
j 



FOR 

CHRISTIAN FAMILIES, 

ON THE 

MOST IMPORTANT RELATIVE DUTIES, 



BY THE LATE 

REV. EDWARD PAYSON, D. D. 

Pastor of the Second Church in Portland, 



BOSTON : 

PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER; 

47 Washington Street, 

NEW YORK I — JONATHAN LEAVITT, 

182, Broadway, 
1832. 



.T>2 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1832. 
By Ann Louisa Payson ; 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



494426 

■30 



PREFACE. 



The cultivation of domestic piety and moral- 
ity is the surest means of elevating the character 
of our species, and of advancing their welfare 
both for this world and that which is to come. 
The good father cannot be a bad citizen ; and 
the child, trained to habits of subordination and 
duty in the family, will be likely to carry these 
habits with him into the extended relations of 
mature life. The rule and measure of human 
duty is the law of God. A character formed 
on any other basis, or shaped by any other 
model, than the Word of God, must be essen- 
tially defective. Deep piety constitutes the 
only sure foundation of a pure morality ; and 
any system of education which overlooks this, 
and provides only for a reputable passage 
through the present world, consults for the in- 
fancy only of our being. No system is com- 
plete, which does not recognize man as the 



iv 



PREFACE. 



creature of God, and destined to an immortal 
existence. Still, the duties of the domestic 
and social relations constitute a highly impor_ 
tant and indispensable part of true religion — a 
part which is greatly under-valued, but without 
which the most imposing pretensions to piety 
are "as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." 

If children are to become worthy subjects 
of the State, or citizens of the Heavenly Zion, 
the process of training them cannot be com- 
menced too early, nor conducted with too much 
circumspection, nor followed out with too much 
perseverance. Every effort, suited to produce 
and fasten a conviction of this kind in the minds 
of parents, to waken a sense of parental re- 
sponsibility, and excite to duty ; — or to check 
existing tendencies, — resulting from the pa- 
geantry that characterizes much of the religion 
of the age, — w T hich conspire to divert attention 
from the noiseless, retired, every-day duties of 
the domestic state, is entitled to serious and 
grateful regard. Such is the little work, here- 
with offered to the public. It is designed for 
a family book. It delineates character, en- 
forces obligations, and inculcates duties, by the 
observance of which, with the blessing of God, 
families become nurseries of the church of 



PREFACE. 



V 



Christ. The few sermons in this selection, 
which are of a less specific character, will 
nevertheless be found to have an important 
bearing on the principal design of the publica- 
tion. Christian fathers, the members of mater- 
nal associations, all pious mothers indeed, will 
find it a welcome companion, a faithful monitor 
and friend. That such a work is greatly needed, 
there is but too much evidence in the prevail- 
ing laxity of family government and discipline. 
That it may be instrumental of reviving fam- 
ily religion, — of "turning the heart of the 
fathers unto the children, and the heart of chil- 
dren unto their fathers, and thus of averting 
the curse of God from our land,"— is the prayer 
of the Editor. 
June, 1832. 



CONTENTS c 



SERMON I. 

THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 

Aid they ivere both righteous before God y 
walking in all the commandments and or- 
dinances of the Lord blameless.— Luke 
i, 6. ---------- - 

SERMON II. 

CHILDREN TO BE EDUCATED FOR GOD. 

Take this child and nurse it for me y and I 
will give thee thy wages. — Exodus ii, 9. 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON III. 

HOW LITTLE CHILDREN ARE PREVENTED FROM 
COMING TO CHRIST. 

But when Jesus saiv it, he xvas much dis- 
pleased, and said unto them, Suffer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not; for of such is the kingdom of 
God,— Mark x, 14. ----- - 53 



SERMON IV. 

DUTY OF THE PRESENT TO THE COMING GENER- 
ATION. 

One generation shall praise thy ivorks to an- 
other, and shall declare thy mighty 
acts. — Psalm cxlv, 4. - -- -- 71 



SERMON V. 

ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE PERVERSENESS OF 
CHILDREN. 

Jind the king ivas much moved, and went 
up to the chamber over the gate, and 
wept; and as he went, thus he said, O my 
son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! 
ivould God I had died for thee, O Ab- 
salom, my son, my son! — 2 Samuel xviii, 
33, - 92 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON VI. 

THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES OF PARENTAL 
UNFAITHFULNESS. 

For I have told him, that I ivill judge his 
house forever, for the iniquity which he 
knoiveth: because his sons made them" 
selves vile, and he restrained them not. 
And therefore I have sworn unto the house 
of Eli, that the iniquity of EIVs house 
shall not be purged ivith sacrifice nor 
offering forever. — 1 Samuel in, 13, 14. 106 

SERMON VII. 

THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS VISITED UPON 
THEIR CHILDREN. 

Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
children, and upon the children's chil- 
dren, unto the third and fourth genera- 
tion. — Exodus xxxiv, 7. - - - - - 124 

SERMON VIII. 

AN EARLY INTEREST IN GOd's MERCY ESSENTIAL 
TO A HAPPY LIFE. 

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we 
may rejoice and be glad all our days. — 
Psalm xc ? 14. 136 



X 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON IX. 

SIN AVOIDED BY CONSIDERATIONS OF GOD, 

How can I — sin against God? — Genesis 
xxxix, 9. - -- -- -- -- 157 

SERMON X. 

solomon's choice. 

Jind the speech pleased the Lord, that Sol- 
omon had ashed this thing, — 1 Kings iii ? 
10. - -- -- -- -- - - 165 

SERMON XI. 

CHARACTER AFFECTED BY INTERCOURSE. 

He that ivalketh with ivise men shall be 
ivise; but a companion of fools shall be 
destroyed. — Proverbs xiii ; 20. - - - 180 

SERMON XII. 

CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 

O Daniel, a man greatly beloved. — Daniel 
x, 11. 197 

SERMON XIII. 

OUR OBLIGATIONS TO GOD AND MEN. 

Render to Cesar the things thai are Cesar's 
and to Ood the things that are (rod's. — 
Mark xii, 17. - - 213 



CONTENTS. XI 



SERMON XIV. 



Neither be partaker of other men's sins.— 
1 Timothy V; 22. ------- 226 



SERMON XV. 

PRAYER FOR RULERS. 

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplica- 
tions, prayers, intercessions, and giving 
of thanks be made for all men; for kings, 
and all that are in authority, that ive may 
lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all 
godliness and honesty. — 1 Timothy ii, 
1, 2. 242 

SERMON XVI. 

LOVE TO CHRIST INDISPENSABLE. 

Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? 
He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; Thou 
knowest that I love thee. He saith unto 
him, Feed my lambs. — John xxi 5 15. 255 

SERMON XVII. 

THE CHARACTERS WHOM CHRIST LOVES. 



/ love them that love me. — Proverbs viii, 17, 267 



SERMON I 



THE PAIR. 



Luke i, 6. 

And they were both righteous before God, walk- 
ing in all the commandments and ordinances 
of the Lord blameless. 

The persons of whom the Holy Ghost has 
borne this honorable testimony are Zacharias and 
Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. The 
character here ascribed to them, so excellent and 
desirable in itself, is especially deserving the re- 
gard and imitation of all who are united by conju- 
gal ties. As this union is the source and basis of 
all the social relations, the character of those who 
" are no more twain but one flesh" must necessa- 
rily exert a powerful influence, not only over the 
domestic circle, but through all the ramifications 
of human society. It will be the object of this 
discourse, 

I. To consider and illustrate the character de- 
scribed in the text ; and, 
2 



14 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



II. To present some Feasons why all who haye 
entered the marriage state should endeavor to 
make it their own. 

I. The first thing which demands attention in 
the character of this truly excellent and happy 
pair, is, that they were righteous before God. 
This, my hearers, is a great thing. It is, in- 
deed, very easy to be righteous in our own esti- 
mation ; nor is it very difficult to be righteous in 
the estimation of our fellow creatures ; but it is 
by no means equally easy to be righteous in the 
estimation of God. He is constantly with us ; 
he sees our whole conduct ; nay more, he reads 
our hearts. To be righteous before him, then, is 
to be really, inwardly, and uniformly righteous. 
It is to be the same persons in every situation, and 
on all occasions ; the same at home, and abroad, 
in solitude and in society. But much less than 
this will suffice to make us righteous in the esti- 
mation of our fellow creatures. They are not al- 
ways with us ; they do not see the whole of our 
conduct ; and of our hearts, our motives, they 
know almost nothing. Of course, they know very 
little of our real characters. How little, for in- 
stance, do the nearest neighbors really know of 
each other. How many characters, which now 
stand fair, would be blasted in a moment, were 
every part of their outward conduct only, laid open 
to public view ? And how many husbands and 
wives, who are generally supposed to live happily 
together, would be found mutual tormentors, were 
they fully known to the world ! How wretchedly 
then are those persons deceived, who flatter them- 
selves that they are righteous before God, merely 
because their characters stand fair in the estima- 
tion of men. And yet how many flatter them- 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



15 



selves in this manner. How many feel and act, 
as if they were to be judged by men only, and not 
by the heart-searching God ; — as if that part of 
their conduct only, which is known to the world, 
was to be brought into judgment ; and not every 
secret action, thought, and feeling. 

My hearers, permit me to warn you against 
this ruinous delusion. Remember that, in srder 
to be really righteous, you must be righteous be- 
fore God. Remember, that no man, who would 
not be thought righteous by his fellow creatures, 
if his whole conduct and his whole heart were laid 
open to them, is righteous before God. Do you 
start at this assertion ? A moment's reflection 
will convince you that it is strictly true. The 
whole conduct, and the whole heart of every man, 
is perfectly known to God. Now if God, know- 
ing a man thus perfectly, judges him to be right- 
eous, then his fellow creatures, did they know him 
as perfectly, would judge him to be righteous. 
Hence it follows, that every man is unrighteous-,, 
whom his fellow creatures would judge to be un- 
righteous, were they perfectly acquainted with his 
conduct and with his heart. Try yourselves by 
this rule. Would men think you righteous, did 
they know you as perfectly as God knows you ? 
Then you are righteous. Would men think you 
unrighteous, did they know you thus perfectly ? 
Then you are unrighteous. It may, however, be 
necessary to remark, that in making these asser- 
tions, I proceed on the supposition, that men 
should judge of you by the rule of God's Word, 
the rule by which God himself judges of your char- 
acter. With this qualification, the truth of these 
assertions must, I conceive, appear evident to all 



16 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



And is it not, to some of you at least, an alarm- 
ing thought, that if men, did they know you per- 
fectly, would think you unrighteous, then God cer- 
tainly does think you so ? And that he will treat 
you accordingly, unless you repent ? If this 
thought does alarm any one, let me entreat him 
not to dismiss it hastily. Keep it in mind, make 
use of it to regulate your conduct, and to try your 
character ; and when your heart and life become 
such, that an impartial jury of your fellow crea- 
tures, perfectly acquainted with both, and judging 
of them by the rules of God's Word, would pro- 
nounce you truly righteous, then, and not till then, 
may you venture to hope that you are righteous 
before God. 

But the opinion of men, if they knew us perfect- 
ly, and judged us by the Word of God, would be 
according to truth ; and, of course, deserve our 
regard. Yet while they know so little of us, as 
they actually do, their good opinion can prove no- 
thing in our favor, except it be, that our outward 
.conduct, so far as it comes under their notice, is 
correct. Still less can our own opinion that we 
are righteous prove us to be so. Agreeably, we 
find St Paul saying, It is a very small thing with 
me to be judged of man's judgment, yea, I judge 
not mine own self ; but he that judgeth me is the 
Lord. And is it not wonderful, my hearers, that 
every man who believes there is a God, does not, 
like the apostle, feel as if the opinions of other 
beings respecting him were of very little conse- 
quence ? — that many, who acknowledge there is a 
God, should think so little of his judgment, and so 
much of the approbation of their fellow creatures ? 
We do not feel and act thus in other similar cases. 
If we perform any work which requires the exer- 



i 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



17 



t ion of mental abilities, or of manual skill, we do 
not much desire or regard the applause of ignorant, 
incompetent judges. But we wish to know what 
judicious men, men of taste and information, think 
of it ; and we value the approbation of one such 
man more than that of hundreds of inferior stamp. 
And were there one man in the world, whose taste 
and judgment were infallible, and whose decision 
would fix forever the character of our work, 
we should prefer his approbation to that of all 
the world beside. Why, then, do we not thus 
supremely prize, and labor to obtain the appro- 
bation of God, the only being who really knows 
us ; whose judgment is infallible,, on^hom our des- 
tiny depends, and whose sentence will stamp our 
characters with a mark, which can never, never 
be effaced ! Thus did the pious pair, whose ex- 
ample we are contemplating. They studied to 
approve themselves to God ; and he declared, in 
return, that they were righteous before him ; and 
had the whole world known them as perfectly as 
he did, the whole world would have assented, with 
one voice, to the truth of this declaration. 

Again : This pair walked in all GooVs com- 
mandments and ordinances blameless. I do not, 
however, mention this, nor do I conceive the in- 
spired writer mentioned it, as something different 
or distinct from being righteous before God. It is 
rather mentioned as an effect and a proof of their 
being righteous. To be righteous, is to be con- 
formed to the rule of right ; and the only rule of 
right is the will of God, as expressed in his com- 
mandments and ordinances. These two words, 
though nearly synonymous, are not perfectly so. 
The commands of God are his moral precepts, or 

those precepts which are designed to regulate our 

cm 



18 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



temper and conduct on all occasions. By bis or- 
dinances are meant those religious rites and insti- 
tutions, which he has directed us to observe. Re- 
pent, believe the gospel, be holy, — are commands ; 
religious worship, baptism, and the Lord's supper, 
are ordinances. He that is righteous before God 
will observe both. In this respect many fail. 
Some pretend to obey God's commands, while 
they neglect his ordinances. Others visibly ob- 
serve his ordinances, but neglect his commands. 
The truly righteous esteem all God's precepts con- 
cerning all things to be right, and observe them, 
not on occasions only, when it suits their conve- 
nience, but habitually. Thus did the persons whose 
character we are considering. They walked in 
God's commandments and ordinances, as in a 
path which they never forsook. The term walk 
signifies a course of life. To walk in God's com- 
mandments and ordinances, is to have the heart 
and life constantly regulated by them. It is not 
to step occasionally into the path of duty, and then 
take many steps in a different path ; but it is to 
pursue this path with undeviating steadiness and 
perseverance, without turning aside either to the 
right hand or to the left. Nor was it a part 
only of God's commandments and ordinances 
that this pious pair observed 5 for we are told, 
that they walked in them all. They did not se- 
lect such as were easy, or reputable, and neglect 
others. Nor did they observe those only, which 
they had little temptation to omit ; but, to use the 
language of the psalmist, they had respect to all 
God's commandments. Hence their characters 
and conduct were blameless, or irreproachable. 
Not that they were absolutely perfect. Some im- 
perfection, doubtless, attended all their moral and 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



19 



religious performances ; but there was nothing 
particularly blameable, no allowed insincerity or 
neglect. In the sight of men, their characters 
were spotless ; and in the sight of God they pos- 
sessed that simplicity and godly sincerity, which 
entitled them to the honorable appellation of Isra- 
elites indeed in whom was no guile. 

Such is the example here presented for the imi- 
tation of all, especially heads of families. But in 
order that the example should produce its full ef- 
fect, it is necessary to show, more particularly, 
what is now, under the Christian dispensation, 
implied in walking in all the ordinances and com- 
mandments of the Lord blamelessly. 

1. It implies the exercise of repentance toward 
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. These 
are the two first and great commands of the gos- 
pel, on obeying which our obedience to all other 
commands, and our acceptable observance of all 
Christian ordinances depends. This was the sum 
of St. Paul's preaching ; these were the first du- 
ties which our Saviour directed his disciples to 
press upon all their hearers ; and which he him- 
self inculcated upon all. When the Jews asked 
him, What shall we do, that we may work the 
work of God ? his answer was, This is the work 
of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 
Until we begin to perform these duties, we cannot 
be righteous before God, nor walk in any of his 
commandments or ordinances ; for inspiration hath 
declared, without faith it is impossible to please 
him. 

2. Walking in all God's commandments and 
ordinances blamelessly, implies great diligence in 
seeking a knowledge of them. No man can reg- 
ulate his conduct by a rule, with which he is un- 



20 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



acquainted. No man can walk in all God's com- 
mandments and ordinances, unless he knows what 
they are ; nor can any man know what they are, 
unless he is familiarly acquainted with the Scrip- 
tures. As well might a mariner find his way to a 
distant port, without ever looking to his chart or 
compass. And the commands and ordinances of 
God are so numerous, that without daily and long- 
continued attention, we shall certainly forget or 
overlook some of them ; shall never obtain such a 
clear, systematic view of our duty, as is necessary 
to its performance. That copy of the Old Testa- 
ment, which Zacharias and Elizabeth possessed, 
was doubtless worn with frequent use. It must 
have been their daily counsellor and guide. 

3. Walking in all God's commandments and 
ordinances blamelessly, implies a careful perform- 
ance of all the duties which husbands and wives 
owe each other. These duties are summarily 
comprehended in the marriage covenant, in which 
the husband solemnly promises, before God and 
men, that he will love, provide for, and be faithful 
to his wife ; and the wife, that she will obey, love, 
and be faithful to her husband. This covenant 
has the nature of an oath, and as such involves 
all who violate it in the guilt of perjury. The du- 
ties which they thus solemnly bind themselves to 
perform, are no more than God requires of them 
in his Word. He there commands husbands to 
love their wives, even as they love themselves, and 
wives to be subject in all things to their husbands. 
He commands them to make this union resemble 
that which subsists between Christ and his Church. 
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved 
the church, and gave himself for it. Wives, be 
subject to your husbands, as the church is subject 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



"21 



to Christ. There must be but one will in a fami- 
ly, but every act of that one will must be prompt- 
ed by love, love like that which Christ displays 
for his church. In no family are all God's com- 
mands obeyed, in which this love on the one part, 
and this submission on the other, are not found. 

4. Walking in all the commandments and ordi- 
nances of God blamelessly, implies a careful per- 
formance, on the part of parents, of all the pa- 
rental duties which he has enjoined. He requires 
us to give them a religious education, to bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; 
to teach them diligently his revealed will, speak- 
ing to them of it, in the house, and by the way, 
when we lie down, and when we rise up; and to 
restrain them when they would pursue vicious 
courses. We have also reason to believe that he 
requires parents to dedicate their children to him 
in baptism. That they ought to be dedicated to 
God, and presented to Christ for his blessing, all 
Christians are agreed, though our Baptist brethren 
do not think them proper subjects of baptism. But 
our Saviour's command, Suffer little children to 
come unto me, or to be brought to me, and forbid 
them not, — certainly makes it the duty of every 
Christian parent to present his children to Christ, 
and to pray for his blessing upon them, whatever 
maybe his opinion respecting infant baptism. Nor 
can Christ fail to be displeased with those parents, 
who, by neglecting to bring their children, do, in 
effect, forbid them to come. And no Christian 
parent, who believes infant baptism to be an ordi- 
nance of God, can pretend that he walks in all 
God's ordinances, while he neglects it. Indeed, 
while any of you, my professing hearers, neglect 
it, you are violating your own express covenant 
engagements. 



22 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



5. Walking in all God's ordinances and com- 
mandments blamelessly, implies the maintaining of 
the worship of God in the family. It is acknowl- 
edged, that there is no command which, in so 
many words, says, worship God in your families, or, 
maintain family prayer. Yet that this is a duty 
incumbent on heads of families, is, perhaps, as 
clearly taught in the Scriptures, as if it were the 
subject of an express command. We have, for 
instance, the example of good men in favor of it. 
God expresses full confidence that Abraham would 
maintain religion in his family. Joshua's resolu- 
tion was, As for me and my house, we will serve 
the Lord. David, after the public exercises of 
religion were finished, returned to bless his house- 
hold; that is, to unite with them in an act of wor- 
ship; and our Saviour often prayed with his little 
family of disciples. Families that call not upon 
God's name are classed among the heathen, and 
it is intimated that God will pour out his fury up- 
on them. Besides, we are commanded to pray 
always on all occasions, and in all circumstances; 
of course, in our families. And St. Peter exhorts 
husbands and wives to live together as heirs of 
the grace of life, that their prayers may not be 
hindered, — an expression which evidently refers to 
united prayers, and intimates that he thought it 
very important that such prayers should not be 
hindered; and that he took it for granted that 
Christian families would offer such prayers. Be- 
sides, the reasonableness, the propriety, and the 
happy effects of family worship, show it to be a 
duty. It is reasonable and proper; for families 
have mercies in common to ask for; and they re- 
ceive favors in common for which they should unite 
in expressing their gratitude. And the happy 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



effects which result from a right performance of 
this duty, are innumerable and inestimable. It 
has a happy effect upon the head of the family 
himself. It tends to make him circumspect, to 
produce watchfulness over his temper and conduct 
through the day; for how can he indulge sin or 
give vent to angry passions in presence of the fam- 
ily, when he recollects that he is a priest in his 
own house; that he prayed with them in the morn- 
ing; and that he will again be called to pray with 
them at night ? He cannot but feel, that, if the 
rest of his conduct is not of a piece with this, his 
own children and servants will despise him for his 
inconsistency. This practice has also a most sal- 
utary influence upon the happiness of domestic 
life. If any unpleasant feelings arise between 
members of the same household, such feelings can 
scarcely outlive the return of the next season for 
family devotion. Affection and peace must return, 
when they next meet around the family altar, un- 
less one or the other is a hypocrite. Thus dis- 
sentions are prevented, and domestic peace and 
harmony are perpetuated. I may add, that it al- 
ways tends to produce, and often does produce, 
the most happy effects upon the children of the 
family. At least, it is certain that a much larger 
proportion of children are moral, and become pious, 
in families, where this duty is properly performed, 
than in those where it is wholly neglected, or only 
occasionally attended to. 

6. Walking in all the commandments and ordi- 
nances of the Lord blamelessly, implies a suitable 
concern for the present and future happiness of 
servants, apprentices and dependants. Their 
health must be regarded. More labor should not 
be exacted, of them, than we would be willing 



24 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR, 



should be exacted of our own children, were they 
placed in similar circumstances. Their rights 
must be held sacred. We are commanded to give 
unto our servants that which is equal and right, 
remembering that we have a Master in heaven. 
Their feelings must not be trifled with. If they 
are faulty, let them be told of their faults with 
mildness; but passionate, contemptuous language 
should never be addressed to them. Ye masters, 
forbear threatening, is the command of Jehovah. 

7. Walking in the commandments and ordi- 
nances of the Lord blamelessly, implies a careful 
performance of all the duties which we owe our 
neighbors. Our Saviour has taught us to include 
in this class all our fellow men, to whom we have 
opportunity of doing good. He that is righteous 
before God will ever be a good neighbor. The 
present and future happiness of all his fellow crea- 
tures will be dear to him, and he will promote it 
as far as his ability extends. Of course, he will 
never knowingly injure them in their persons, rep- 
utation, or estate. And in receiving and return- 
ing their visits, he will be governed, not by the 
sinful or foolish customs, which the fashionable 
world has adopted, but by a regard to God's 
glory and their best good. 

8. Walking in all the commandments and ordi- 
nances of the Lord blamelessly, implies a proper 
use of the temporal good things which are entrust- 
ed to our care. Nothing should be wasted, for 
God will require an account of all. Nothing 
should be employed to gratify the lust of the flesh, 
the lust of the eye, or the pride of life; for proper- 
ty so employed is much worse than wasted. We 
must use the world as not abusing it, and employ 
every portion of our property in a manner which 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



25 



God will approve, and to the purpose for which it 
was given. He that wastes his possessions, 
wastes God's property, and the poor's patrimony; 
he that consumes them upon his lusts, gives them 
to swine. 

Lastly; Walking in all the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord blamelessly, implies a sa- 
cred observance of the Sabbath, a diligent attend- 
ance on the public worship of God, and a com- 
memoration of Christ at his table. All these 
things are God's ordinances, and, if we except 
baptism, they are perhaps the only ordinances 
which he has appointed under the Christian dis- 
pensation. Heads of families, who neglect either 
of them, cannot be said to walk in all God's ordi- 
nances blamelessly. 

Having thus considered and illustrated the 
character brought to view in the text, I proceed^ 
as was proposed, 

II. To state some reasons, why all who have 
entered the marriage state should endeavor to 
make it their own. But is this necessary ? Can 
any of you, my hearers, need reasons or motives 
to persuade you to the acquisition of such a char- 
acter ? Does it not commend itself at once to 
the understanding, and to the conscience of every 
man who is possessed of either ? If, however, 
any of you need such reasons, they can easily be 
assigned. 

1. God approves, and requires you to pos- 
sess, such a character. He commands you to 
be righteous before him. His language is, I am 
the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou 
perfect. All the commandments and ordinances 
which have been mentioned are his. They are 
sanctioned by his authority; a neglect of them will 
3 



26 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



be punished by his power; a performance of them 
will be rewarded by his grace. The curse of the 
Lord, we are told is in the house of the wicked; 
but he loveth and blesseth the habitation of the 
righteous. And is it not reasonable that we 
should obey his commands ? Is it not desirable 
to avert his curse from our dwellings, and to have 
his blessing in our habitations ? Who, that be- 
lieves there is a God, would not have his family 
one of the few faithful families, on which God 
looks with approbation ? Who would not wish 
that the eye of God should discover in it nothing 
displeasing to him ? 

2. Consider how much it would promote your 
present happiness to possess such a character. 
Where can happiness be found on earth, if not in 
such a family as has now been described ? Mu- 
tual affection and harmony, peace and contentment 
would dwell in it. All the gifts of Providence 
would be enjoyed with a double relish, because 
they would be received as the gifts of a Father, 
and be sanctified by his word and prayer. Almost 
every cause of domestic unhappiness would be ex- 
cluded. There would be no room for anxiety, un- 
easiness, and alarm; for such a family could 
cheerfully trust in God to supply all its real wants, 
and to shield it from all real evils. Even if afflic- 
tions came, they would come as mercies, and de- 
prived of their stings. In short, such a family 
would be of one heart and of one soul; that heart 
and that soul would be devoted to God, and God in 
return would devote himself to them. And O, 
how pleasant, how soothing, how refreshing, would 
it be to the husband, the father, to return at even- 
ing to such a house, after the labors and fatigues 
of the day, to be greeted with affectionate smiles, 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



27 



and to return them; to shut out the world with its 
follies and cares, and to feel, while rejoicing' in 
the circle of those whom he loved, that God was 
looking down upon them with approbation and de- 
light; that an unseen Saviour was rejoicing in 
the midst of them, to see the happiness which he 
had purchased, and which his religion bestowed ! 
How sweet, to close an evening thus pleasant, 
and a day spent in the service of God, by uniting 
around the family altar in an offering of prayer and 
praise to their great Benefactor, and then lie down 
to rest with that feeling of sincerity and safety, 
which filial confidence in heaven inspires ! — Some 
may, perhaps, choose to call this representation, 
religious romance; but it is sober reality; it is no 
more than has been actually enjoyed; and if we 
see few families in which it is realized, it is only 
because there are few, in which both heads of the 
family walk in all the commandments and ordinan- 
ces of the Lord blameless. 

3. Permit me to remind you how greatly such 
a family would honor God and adorn religion. It , 
would, indeed, in such a world as this be like one 
of those ever verdant islands, which rise amidst 
the wide ocean of Arabian sands, and whose con- 
stant verdure leads the weary and thirsty travel- 
ler to seek for the hidden spring which produces 
it. It is, perhaps, impossible for an insulated in- 
dividual to exhibit all the beauty and excellence 
of Christianity; because much of it consists in the 
right performance of those relative duties, which 
he has no opportunity to perform. But in a re- 
ligious family, a family, where both husband and 
wife are evidently pious, religion may be dis- 
played in all its parts, and in the fulness of its 
glory and beauty; and one such family will do more 



28 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



to recommend it, and to soften the prejudices of 
its enemies, than can be effected by the most pow- 
erful and persuasive sermon. 

The subject is very far from being exhausted. 
Many more powerful arguments and motives in 
favor of imitating* the character here recommend- 
ed might easily be urged; but the unexpected 
length to which the preceding remarks have been 
extended, compels me to omit them, and to close 
with a short address by way of application. 

Permit me to commence this address by asking 
each married pair in this assembly, whether their 
family is such as has now been described; wheth- 
er they resemble the parents of John the Baptist. 
Are you both righteous before God ? and do you 
walk in all his ordinances and commands blame- 
less ? If not, whose fault is it ? Is it the hus- 
band's ? or the wife's ? or the fault of both ? In 
some families, doubtless both are in fault ; neither 
is righteous. Alas, that there should be such 
families, and so many of them among us ! Alas, 
that persons should ever enter the married state, 
so totally unqualified to discharge all its most im- 
portant duties; that immortal souls should be com- 
mitted to the care of those who know not their 
worth, and who will do nothing to effect their sal- 
vation ! Is this the character of any fathers and 
mothers present ? and if so, shall it continue such ? 
Remember, ye who are in this state, especially 
ye who have just entered it, that, however happy 
you may now be, affliction will come, sickness will 
come, death will come; and what will you then do, 
ye who have made no provision for such events, ye 
who have no God to support and comfort you ? 
Be assured, the time will arrive, even in the pres- 
ent life, when you will feel the need of religion; 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



29 



feel that every thing besides is comparatively 
worthless. Remember, too, ye who now love and 
rejoice in each other, that you must meet in an- 
other world; and that the fate of each in that 
world will depend much upon the conduct of the 
other. If you now encourage each other in neg- 
lecting religion, you will then meet as the bitterest 
of enemies, and load each other with reproaches 
and execrations. Each one will then say, O, that 
we had never met ! Had I not been connected 
with you, had I possessed a religious partner, I 
might now have been happy. But you tempted 
and encouraged me to live without God, and to 
neglect my Saviour; and now I must, in conse- 
quence, be miserable forever ! On the contrary, 
should either of you now become truly religious, 
you may be instrumental in effecting the salvation 
of the other; and then with what joy will you both 
meet in heaven ! O then, live together in such a 
manner, that you may hereafter meet with joy; 
live as it becomes two immortal beings travelling 
hand in hand to judgment and eternity. Live to- 
gether in this world as heirs of the grace of life, 
and you shall live together in heaven, as happy 
participants of its bliss. 

But there are probably other families in which 
the fault lies on one only of the partners. Per- 
haps, O husband, it is your fault, that both are 
not religious. You have a pious partner, one 
whom you cannot but acknowledge is pious. But 
you refuse to unite with her in making your habi- 
tation a temple of God, the abode of religion, of 
peace and happiness. You do not, perhaps, op- 
pose her; but you afford her no assistance in her 
journey to heaven. In this respect she is a widow. 
She is deprived of one of the greatest blessings 



30 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



which a wife has a right to expect from a husband: 
and must pursue her way solitary, alone. When 
she rejoices, she cannot impart to you her joys; 
when she is sad, she cannot make you understand 
the cause of her sadness, nor receive from you any 
consolation or relief. Nay more, you are the 
chief cause of her sorrows. She mourns with a 
heart almost broken, because she is compelled to 
leave you behind, to fear that you will perish for- 
ever; and the more kind you are in other respects, 
so much the more does her grief increase. Yet 
she, probably, does not express it, lest she should 
give offence, and be reproached for indulging need- 
less apprehensions. And while you give all this 
pain to her, of what happiness do you deprive 
yourself ; happiness here, and happiness hereafter! 
O, then, let it no longer be your fault, that reli- 
gion is not enthroned, and adorned, and enjoyed 
in your families; but now, while the Spirit and the 
bride invite, come and taste of the water of life 
freely. 

In other cases it is, perhaps, the fault of the 
wife; and if so, how great a fault ! What hard- 
ness of heart, what inexcusable obstinacy, does it 
evince, to stand out not only against the authority 
of God, and the invitations of the Saviour, but the 
arguments, persuasions, and entreaties of her 
nearest earthly friend ! What cruel unkindness, 
to plant thorns in the breast of him, who looks to 
you for his chief earthly consolation; to seal up 
his lips when he wishes to give vent to the feelings 
of his heart; to compel him to feel that, when he 
prays in his family, he prays alone; and to see 
that his labors for the salvation of his children are 
rendered almost fruitless for want of a partner to 
assist him. O, then, let no wife, no mother, in 



THE BLAMELESS PAIR. 



31 



this assembly, be so unmindful of what she owes 
to her husband, her children, her Saviour, her 
God, as to continue in an irreligious state. And 
wherever either partner is pious, let both become 
so; and then shall the voice of joy and rejoicing 
be heard in your habitation, as it is in the taber- 
nacles of the righteous. 

Blessed be God, there are some such families 
among us, — families, in which, as we have reason 
to hope, both the husband and wife resemble the 
parents of John the Baptist. Let those who are 
thus highly favored show their gratitude to God, 
by striving to become eminently pious. Let them 
quicken and assist each other in the good work, 
and be mutual helpers of each other's faith and joy. 
When you return to your habitations, consult to- 
gether, and inquire, whether there is any com- 
mandment or ordinance of God, in which you are 
not both walking; any duty which you are neglect- 
ing; any thing in your families which is displeas- 
ing to Christ. If any thing of this kind is discov- 
ered, put it from you instantly, however dear. 
Thus you will each have increasing reason to bless 
God through eternity, for giving you a pious part- 
ner; and when you meet in heaven, you will love 
each other with pure and immortal affection, as 
instruments employed by God to fit each other for 
that world, where they neither marry nor are giv- 
en in marriage, but are like the angeJs of God. 



SERMON IL 



CHXLDREX TO BE EDUCATED FOR 
GOD, 

Exodus ii, 9. 

Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will 
give thee thy wages. 

These words were addressed by Pharaoh's 
daughter to the mother of Moses. Of the circum- 
stances which occasioned them, it can scarcely be 
necessary to inform you. You need not be told, 
that, soon after the birth of this future leader of 
Israel, his parents were compelled by the cruelty 
of the Egyptian king to expose him in an ark of 
bulrushes, on the banks of the Nile. In this sit- 
uation he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh; 
and so powerfully did his infantile cries excite her 
compassion, that she determined not only to res- 
cue him from a watery grave, but to adopt and 
educate him as her own. His sister Miriam, who 
at a distance, had watched his fate unseen, now 
came forward like a person entirely unacquainted 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



33 



with the circumstances of his exposure, and on 
hearing the princess' determination offered to pro- 
cure a Hebrew woman, to take the care of him, 
until he should be of sufficient age to appear at her 
father's court. This offer being accepted, she im- 
mediately went and called the child's mother, to 
whose care he was committed by the princess in 
the words of our text, — Take this child and nurse 
it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. 

In similar language, my friends, does God ad- 
dress parents. To every one, on whom he bestows 
the blessing of children, he says in his word and 
by the voice of his Providence, Take this child 
and educate it for me, and I will give thee thy 
wages. 

From this passage, therefore, we may take oc- 
casion to shew, 

I. What is implied in educating children for 
God ; 

II. The reward which he gives to those who 
perform this duty aright. 

I. The first thing implied in educating chil- 
dren for God, is a realizing, heart felt conviction 
that they are his property, his children, rather than 
ours; and that he commits them for a time to our 
care, merely for the purpose of education, as we 
place children under the care of human instructers 
for the same purpose. However carefully we may 
educate children, yet we cannot be said to educate 
them for God, unless we feel that they are his; 
for if we feel as if they were ours exclusively, we 
shall and must educate them for ourselves and not 
for him. To know that they are his, is to feel a 
cordial operative conviction that he has a sove- 
reign right to dispose of them as he pleases, and to 
take them from us whenever he thinks fit. That 



34 



CHILDREN TO BE 



they are his, and that he possesses this right, is 
evident from innumerable passages in the inspired 
writings. We are there told that God is the form- 
er of our bodies, and the father of our spirits; that 
we are all his offspring, and that consequently we 
are not our own but his. We are also assured 
that, as the soul of the parent, so also the souls of 
the children are his; and God, once and again, 
severely reproves and threatens the Jews, because 
they sacrificed his children, in the fire to Moloch. 
Yet plain and explicit as these passages are, how 
few parents appear to feel their force. How few 
appear to feel and act as if conscious, that they 
and theirs were the absolute property of God; 
that they were merely the foster-parents of their 
children, and that, in all which they do for them, 
they are, or ought to be acting for God. But it 
is evident that they must feel this before they can 
bring up their children for Him; for how can they 
educate their children for a being whose existence 
they do not realize, whose right to them they do 
not acknowledge, and whose character they do not 
love ? 

Nearly connected with this is a second thing 
implied in educating children for God, — namely, a 
cordial and solemn dedication or surrender of them 
to him, to be his forever. We have already shewn 
that they are his property and not ours; and by 
dedicating them to him, we mean nothing more 
than an explicit acknowledgment of this truth; or 
an acknowledgment that we consider them as en- 
tirely his; and that we unreservedly surrender 
them to him, for time and eternity. This, my 
friends, is a reasonable service. The apostle be- 
seeches Christians by the tender mercies of God, 
to present themselves as living sacrifices to him, holy 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



35 



and acceptable, and to glorify God in their bodies 
and spirits which are his. But the same consid- 
erations which render it right and reasonable that 
we should dedicate ourselves to God, render it 
equally right and reasonable, that to him we should 
also dedicate our children. If we refuse to give 
them to God, how can we be said to educate them 
for him ? 

In the third place, if we would educate children 
for God, we must do all that we do for them from 
right motives. Almost the only motive which the 
Scriptures allow to be right, is a regard for the 
glory of God, and a disinterested desire to pro- 
mote it; and they consider nothing as really done 
for God, which does not flow from this source. 
Without this, however exemplary we may be, we 
do but bring forth fruit to ourselves, and are no bet- 
ter than empty vines. We must, therefore, be gov- 
erned by this motive in the education of our chil- 
dren, if we would educate them for God, and not 
for ourselves. In all our cares, labors and suffer- 
ings for them, a regard to the divine glory must be 
the main spring which moves us. If we act merely 
from parental affection, we act from no higher prin- 
ciple than the irrational animals around us, since 
many of them evidently appear to love their offspring 
no less ardently, and to be no less ready to encount- 
er dangers, toils, and sufferings, to promote their 
happiness, than we are to promote the welfare of 
ours. But if parental affection can be sanctified 
by the grace of God, and parental duties hallowed 
by a wish to promote his glory, then we rise above 
the irrational world, to our proper station, and 
may be said to educate our children for God; and 
here, my friends, we may observe that true religion, 
when it prevails in the heart, sanctifies every 



36 



CHILDREN TO BE 



thing, renders even the most common actions of 
life acceptable to God, and gives them a dignity 
and importance, which, of themselves, they by no 
means deserve. What, for instance, can be more 
common or trifling, than the daily reception of food 
for the support of the body ? Yet even this may 
be done, and ought to be done, to the glory of 
God; and when this is the case, instead of a tri- 
fling unimportant action, it becomes an important 
religious duty; Whether ye eat or drink, do all to 
the glory of God. Thus the care and education 
of children, however trifling it may be thought by 
some, ought to be attended to from a regard to 
the divine glory; and when this is done, it becomes 
an important part of true religion. 

In the fourth place, if we would educate our 
children for God, we must educate them for his 
service. The three preceding particulars which 
we have mentioned, refer principally to ourselves 
and our motives; but this has more immediate re- 
lation to our children themselves. With a view 
to show with all possible clearness, what we mean 
by educating our children for the service of God, 
permit me to make the following supposition. 
Suppose that any of you had a young and numer- 
ous family, for which you felt yourselves unable to 
provide. Suppose, farther, that some benevolent, 
rich and powerful monarch should condescendingly 
offer to support them and yourselves, during your 
lives, and at your death to adopt your children as 
his own, and raise them to the highest honors and 
employments in his kingdom, provided that they 
should be found on examination, any way qualified 
for his service. Suppose also, that he furnished 
you with the clearest and fullest instructions re- 
specting the qualifications of every kind which he 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



37 



should require of them, and offered you every ne- 
cessary assistance, to enable you to instruct and 
qualify them aright. 

Now it is evident, that if you should think pro- 
per to embrace his offers, you would educate your 
children entirely for his service; this would be 
your sole object respecting them; to this every 
thing else would be made to give place, and you 
would feel, and endeavor to make them feel, that 
every thing which did not tend, either directly or 
indirectly, to prepare them for the examination 
through which they must pass, was of no use or 
consequence to them, however important or pleas- 
ing it might be in itself. In order to qualify your- 
selves for the right instruction of your children, 
you would diligently study the directions given 
you, and ascertain as nearly as possible, the qual- 
ifications which would be necessary to prepare 
your children for the honors and employments de- 
signed for them. In the next place, as soon as 
your children were capable of understanding you, 
you would inform them of every thing relative to 
their situation and prospects. You would tell 
them that you were poor, and unable to make pro- 
vision for their future support; that you must soon 
die and leave them friendless, destitute and for- 
lorn; and that they would then indispensably need 
some kind and powerful friend to provide for and 
protect them. When they began to feel their 
need of such a friend, you would proceed to tell 
them of the condescending offers which the king 
had made, to adopt and provide for them as his 
own; of the qualifications which his service requir- 
ed, and of the assistance which he was ready to 
give them in acquiring these qualifications. You 
would tell them of his power, majesty, riches and 
4 



38 



CHILDREN TO BE 



goodness; of all the favors he had bestowed of? 
you, of the great importance of securing his favor, 
and of the dangerous consequences of losing it. 
You would early begin to teach them the language 
of the country for which they were destined, and the 
laws, customs, and dispositions of its inhabitants; 
you would frequently remind them of the honors 
and employments before them, and of the folly of 
degrading themselves by frivolous pursuits, trifling 
amusements, and unworthy conduct; you would 
carefully guard against their associating with such 
companions as would tend to render their taste, 
their disposition, their conversation and deport- 
ment unsuitable to the exalted situation for which 
they were preparing. You would frequently seek 
for them the promised assistance of the king; 
warn them of the fatal effects of indolence and de- 
lay, and press them in every possible way, and by 
every motive which you could conceive of, to per- 
severing diligence and active exertion. In a word, 
you would so conduct and converse with your chil- 
dren, as most clearly to show them, that you con- 
sidered their preparation for the examination 
through which they were to pass, as the great 
object of their lives, the one thing and the only 
thing really needful; and so to turn all their 
thoughts, desires, words and actions into one 
channel, and direct them to this one end. You 
would be careful never to say or do any thing, 
which should lead them to think of any other friend 
or protector than the one whom you had chosen 
for them; of any other kind of honor or happiness, 
than that which would result from his favor; or of 
any disgrace or misery comparable to the loss of 
it. Such, in brief, is the manner in which yon 
would probably conduct in the circumstances we 
have suppossed. 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



39 



My friends, this supposition is not very far from 
the truth; and you may easily learn from it what 
is implied in educating your children for God. 
Like the parents mentioned above, you are in a 
spiritual sense poor, unable to provide for the hap- 
piness of your children in this world, and much 
more so in the next. God, the King of kings, 
and Lord of lords, condescendingly offers to adopt 
them into his own family, cause all things to work 
together for their good, and make them heirs of a 
heavenly inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and 
that fadeth not away, provided they are properly 
qualified to serve and enjoy him. He has also, in 
his Word, given you the fullest and clearest in- 
struction, respecting the qualifications, which he 
requires in his servants, and offers you the influ- 
ences of his Spirit, to impart these qualifications 
to your children, and assist you in educating them 
aright. Now if you think proper to accept these 
offers, and educate your children for the service of 
God, or to be his servants, you will conduct in a 
manner very similar to that described above. 

In the first place, in order to qualify yourselves 
for instructing and preparing your children for 
God's service, you will diligently study his Word, 
to ascertain what he requires of them, and fre- 
quently pray for the assistance of his Spirit, both 
for them and yourselves. In the next place, as 
soon as they arrive at a suitable age, which is 
much earlier than is generally supposed, you will 
begin to tell them of your own inability to preserve 
them from misery, and render them happy either 
in this world or the next; of their indispensable 
need of some other friend and protector, of the 
gracious offers and invitations of their heavenly 
Father, of the infinite importance of securing his 



40 



CHILDREN TO BE 



favor, and the inconceivably dreadful consequences 
of incurring his displeasure. You will also early 
begin to teach them the language of heaven, the 
dispositions, employments and enjoyments of its 
inhabitants, and the gratifications which are ne- 
cessary to prepare them for it. You will tell them 
that God is able and willing to impart these qual- 
ifications to all who come to him in the name of 
Christ; that he has already conferred on them ten 
thousand favors; that he is the greatest, wisest, 
and best of beings, and that his Son Jesus Christ 
is the friend of children, and the Saviour of sin- 
ners. You will diligently caution them against 
all those sinful tempers and practices which are 
inconsistent with the favor of God, labor to form 
them to his image, and prevent them, so far as 
possible, from associating with companions, who 
might poison their principles, corrupt their morals, 
or weaken their s«nse of the infinite importance of 
religion. In a word, you will carefully guard 
against saying or doing any thing which may, 
either directly or indirectly, lead them to consider 
religion as an object of secondary importance; on 
the contrary, you will constantly labor to impress 
upon their minds a conviction, that you consider 
religion as the great business of life; the favor of 
God, as the only proper object of pursuit, and the 
enjoyment of him hereafter, as the only happi- 
ness; while every thing else is comparatively of 
no consequence, however important it may other- 
wise be. 

Such, my friends, in brief, is the manner in 
which we must educate children, if we would edu- 
cate them for the service of God; and the reason- 
ableness of this, we presume no one will deny. 
No one would think of qualifying a child for a 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



41 



physician, without giving him some knowledge of 
diseases and their remedies; or for a counsellor^ 
without putting him upon the study of the law; or 
for a divine, without making him acquainted with 
theology. Equally necessary is it, if we would 
educate children for God ? thus to attempt to qual- 
ify them for his service. And this, we may far- 
ther observe, implies three things. It implies, 

1. That we pay more attention to the soul than 
to the body. We do not mean that the body is 
to be neglected; but the soul must be considered 
as the superior part, and the body merely as its 
servant. In this respect multitudes of parents 
fail. They are extremely attentive to the bodies 
of their children, to their health, their beauty, the 
elegance of their form, and the gracefulness of 
their deportment; but seem entirely to forget that 
they have a soul, a mind, a heart, that deserves 
attention. If the slightest illness affects their 
children, they are alarmed; but they feel neither 
concern nor anxiety on account of the diseases of 
their minds. They would be unspeakably dis- 
tressed should their children be distorted or de- 
formed, and would use every possible means to 
correct or remove the deformity; but their minds 
may be deformed; and their tempers distorted by 
a thousand evil passions, without giving them any 
disturbance. They would be extremely mortified 
to see their children awkward, rude, and unpolish- 
ed',in their behavior to their fellow-creatures; but 
seem to think it of no consequence with how much 
indecent rudeness and impiety, they treat their 
Creator. But surely this is not educating chil- 
dren for God. If mankind indeed were mere ani- 
mals, devoid of reason, such a mode of education 
would be proper for them; but surely there ought 



42 



CHILDREN TO BE 



to be some difference between the education of ra- 
tional and irrational beings. 

2. Educating children for the service of God 
implies, that we pay more attention to the heart 
or disposition, than to the mind. You will not 
surely suspect me of thinking that the mind, or, 
in other words, our rational faculties, should be 
neglected; or that the cultivation of it is not of 
very great importance. We only mean to assert 
that it is of far less importance than the cultiva- 
tion of the heart. This few^ if any, will deny; 
for it is evident that, though our minds should be 
cultivated in the highest possible degree, and stored 
with every kind of human literature and science; 
yet if our hearts are neglected, if our passions, 
appetites, and dispositions continue depraved, we 
can neither feel nor communicate happiness; but 
shall only be wretched ourselves, and occasion un- 
happiness to others, even in this world, much more 
in the world to come. It is notorious that many 
of the individuals, whose agency has been produc- 
tive of the greatest mischief both in the moral and 
political world, were persons whose mental powers 
had been carefully cultivated, while their tempers 
and dispositions were neglected. On the contra- 
ry, the most ignorant person, if his heart be right, 
will be happy himself, both here and hereafter; 
and may be the means of communicating much 
happiness and doing much good to others, — though 
not so much, we allow, as he might accomplish 
with an educated mind. It is therefore evident, 
that although both are important, yet the cultiva- 
tion of the heart is more so than that of the un- 
derstanding. It is highly desirable that our chil- 
dren should possess both the wisdom of the serpent 
and the harmlessness of the dove; but if they can- 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



43 



not have both, the latter is certainly to be pre- 
ferred. 

But this many parents appear to forget. They 
are sufficiently attentive to the minds of their 
children, and spare no pains or expense, to give 
them the best education in their power to bestow. 
Every kind of knowledge, and every accomplish- 
ment, whether useful or not, which is fashionable, 
must be acquired by them. But meanwhile their 
hearts and dispositions are, in a great measure, 
or entirely, neglected. No means are employed to 
teach them the most important of all sciences, the 
knowledge of themselves, of God, and of his Son, 
Jesus Christ, whom to know aright is life eternal. 
On the contrary, they are suffered to grow up, 
almost as perfect strangers to the very first prin- 
ciples of the oracles of God, as if there were no 
such book, or as if they were inhabitants of a 
heathen country. Surely, my brethren, these 
things ought not so to be. This cannot be educa- 
ting children for God. 

3. Educating children for the service of God 
implies, that we educate them for eternity, rather 
than for time; for a future world, rather than for 
this. You need not be told, my friends, that a 
different education is necessary to prepare us for 
different situations. For instance, if a parent de- 
signs one of his children for the navy, another for 
the counting house, a third for the bar, and a 
fourth for the desk, he will give them in some re- 
spects a different education; an education suited 
to their respective destined employments. So he 
who educates his children for this world, will, in 
many respects, educate them very differently from 
one who educates them for the next. The first 
will confine his views to the present life, and be 



44 



CHILDREN TO BE 



anxious to teach his children only those things 
which are necessary to qualify them for acquiring 
riches, or honors, or applauses here. But the 
other will extend his views to eternity, and be 
principally, though not entirely concerned, to give 
his children that knowledge which will be useful 
to them beyond the grave. Here, again, multi- 
tudes fail. How few parents, my friends, educate 
their children in such a manner as would lead a 
stranger to conclude that they believed in God, 
or a future state; that they viewed their children 
as immortal beings, in a state of probation for 
eternity, and candidates for everlasting happiness 
or misery. He would see many anxious for the 
success of their children here, rising early, and 
late taking rest, and eating the bread of care- 
fulness, to promote their temporal welfare; while 
no anxiety is manifested respecting the destiny of 
their undying souls. 

Thus, my friends, have we endeavored to give 
you a concise view of what is implied in educating 
children for God. Let it be observed, in addi- 
tion, that all this must be done in such a manner, 
as to convince your children, that you are sincere, 
that you are in earnest, that the promotion of 
their spiritual and eternal welfare is the great, 
the absorbing concern of your souls. 
We proceed now, as was proposed, 
II. To consider the reward which God usually 
bestows on those who thus educate their children 
for him. Though God is the Creator and sove- 
reign Lord of all things, and might therefore, with 
the most perfect justice, have required us to obey 
all his commands without any compensation, yet 
he has been graciously pleased to attach a reward 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



45 



to the performance of every duty, and of this 
among the rest. This reward consists, 

1. In the pleasure which attends every attempt 
to educate children for God. However strong 
parental affection may be, it is rarely, if ever, suf- 
ficient to render the various cares, anxieties, and 
duties which attend a numerous family, delightful 
or even pleasant. There is reason to believe, 
that, in many instances, these cares and troubles 
are productive of fretfulness, impatience, and dis- 
content; and not only embitter the lives, but sour 
the tempers of parents. Even Christian parents, 
who do not recollect that they are, or ought to be, 
educating their children for God, are prone to mur- 
mur at the frequent interruption which they meet 
with in the hours set apart for devotion, and the little 
time which the cares of their families allow them, 
for reading, meditation and prayer. But did they 
realize that they are encountering all these cares 
and troubles for God, that they are educating his 
children, and that whatever they do or suffer for 
them, if performed from right motives, will be con- 
sidered and rewarded as done for him, how great- 
ly would it lessen their sorrows, and alleviate the 
cares and perplexities attending a family. How 
easy would it be to spend wearisome days, and 
sleepless nights, for their children, could they feel 
that they are acting and suffering for God; and 
that he looks on, and approves their conduct. 
This alone, were there no other, would be a suffi- 
cient reward to the Christian for bringing up his 
children for God. 

2. Another part of the reward which God be- 
stows on those who educate their children for him, 
is the happiness which they enjoy, when they see 
their labors crowned with success. This happi- 



46 



CHILDREN TO BE 



ness will usually, if not always, be enjoyed by 
those who educate their children in the manner 
above described, and seek with proper earnestness 
and perseverance, the blessing of God to render 
their exertions effectual. I am warranted to make 
this assertion by the authority of Scripture. We 
are there expressly assured, that if we train up a 
child in the way he should go, when he is old, he 
will not depart from it. In addition to this, God's 
language to every believing parent, to every child 
of Abraham is, I will be a God to thee and to 
thy seed after thee. These passages are abun- 
dantly sufficient to warrant a belief, that God will 
save, at least, some of the seed of every believer, 
who, like Abraham, teaches and commands his 
children and his household after him, to keep the 
way of the Lord; for were it true, that God does 
not promise to be a God to all the children of 
such parents, yet he does promise that he will be 
a God to some of them; and we dare challenge 
any person to produce a single instance, in which 
all the offspring of believing parents who educate 
their children for God, in the manner above de- 
scribed, died without giving evidence of hopeful 
piety. We know, indeed, that many children of 
parents undoubtedly pious, far from imitating their 
example, have been notoriously wicked; but we 
know also that many parents, really pious, do not 
educate their children, by any means as they 
ought. We know also that all the means and 
endeavors which parents can use, will avail noth- 
ing, without the sovereign grace of God; but we 
likewise know that God usually works by means, 
and converts those children whose parents labor 
and pray most earnestly for their conversion, 
The labors of ministers for their people are no 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



47 



more effectual, without the grace of God, than 
those of parents for their children; yet St. Paul 
assures Timothy, that if he took heed to himself 
and to his doctrine, and continued in them, he 
should in so doing, both save himself, and them 
that heard him. Why then may we- not with 
equal reason conclude, that if parents take heed 
to themselves, to their conduct, and the doctrines 
of Christ and continue in them, they shall save, 
not only themselves, but their children? We can- 
not at present insist any longer on this part of our 
subject; but we are, I think, sufficiently warrant- 
ed to conclude, that God will bestow on every 
parent who educates children for him, the pleasure 
of seeing, at least some of them, walking in the 
truth. 

My friends, what a reward is this! How must 
it relieve the anxiety of a parent's heart, how 
soothing, how delightful must it be, to see his 
children safe in the arms of the great Shepherd, 
happy in the enjoyment of God's love; and to feel 
assured that all things shall work together for 
their good, and that they are heirs of a heavenly 
inheritance. What music can be more sweet, 
more ravishing to a parent's ear, than the accents 
of a beloved and affectionate child exulting in 
hope of the glory of God, and gratefully declaring 
that to the prayers, labors and pious example of 
his parents, he is indebted, under God, for all his 
present happiness and future hopes. How must 
it alleviate the pangs of separation, when death 
arrives, to know that we leave our children under 
the care of an infinitely good, wise, and powerful 
being, who will do for them all that they need to 
have done, and watch over them with more than 
parental tenderness; to know too that they will 



48 



CHILDREN TO BE 



soon follow us to the mansions of eternal rest. 
Or if they are called to go before us, how easy 
must it be to part with them, when we know that 
they are going to be with Christ, which is far bet- 
ter, and that we shall soon be reunited to them in 
his presence to part no more. And hereafter, 
when we meet them in the abodes of the blessed, 
when we hear them praising God, for giving them 
such parents, when we lead them on to the throne 
of God and the Lamb, saying, Behold, here are 
we and the children whom thou hast given us; and 
to hear him greet us with, Well done, good and 
faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your 
Lord; — what will be our feelings ? how inconceiv- 
able our happiness! how great the reward of edu- 
cating children for God! And even should our 
endeavors fail of success, still we shall not lose 
our reward; still the Judge will own and approve 
us, before the assembled universe, and call us to 
enter into his joy; for in his kingdom, rewards are 
ever proportioned, not to our success, but to our 
zeal and faithfulness. 

From what has been said, we infer, 
1. That the number of those who educate their 
children for God is small, very small indeed. 
This, my frieads, is too evident to require proof ; 
for if it be true that a child trained up in the way 
he should go, will not depart from it when he is 
old; how few have been thus trained; how few 
walk in the way they should go, the strait and 
narrow way to life! And on the contrary, how 
many Walk in the way they should not go ; the 
broad way that leadeth to destruction! What 
multitudes of parents and children go on together, 
hand in hand — to eternal ruin, without once paus- 
ing to inquire or reflect, whither they are going, 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



49 



My friends, of all the melancholy, heart-rending 
spectacles, which this lost world affords, this is 
perhaps the worst; and of all the sins which exist 
among us, none is more prevalent or destroys more 
immortal souls, than the neglect of educating 
children for God. It involves the souls both of 
parents and children in one common ruin. Nor is 
any sin more destructive to a nation, or detrimental 
to the peace of society. How can it be expect- 
ed that children, who were never governed or re- 
strained while young, should prove friends of good 
order, or useful members of society when old? 

My friends, this subject calls loudly for our at- 
tention, as citizens, as parents, as Christians; 
and if we have any love either for our country, our 
children, our God, or ourselves, we shall learn to 
give it that attention which it deserves. 

2. Permit me to improve this subject by asking 
every parent present, for whom are you educating 
your children ? We ask not this question, as 
having authority to call you to an account; we 
ask it not with a view to pry into the state of 
your families; we ask it not to condemn you; but 
we ask it merely with a view to call your atten- 
tion to the subject, and to lead conscience to give 
an answer. Say then, my friends, for whom are 
you educating your children; for God, or for his 
enemies ? Do you consider your children as a 
sacred gift, intrusted to you only for a short peri- 
od, and which the Donor expects to be employed 
in his service, and returned to him more valuable 
than when it was bestowed ? Do you recognise 
God's right to dispose of them according to his 
good pleasure, and to take them from you when- 
ever he shall see best ? Have you sincerely and 
solemnly surrendered them to God, and dedicated 



50 



CHILDREN TO BE 



them to his service ? Are you governed by a su- 
preme regard to the glory of God., in all your ef- 
forts for their improvement, and in all the labors., 
cares and sufferings, which you undergo on their 
account ? Do you educate them for the service 
of the King of kings, daily laboring to convince 
them of the infinite importance of securing his fa- 
vor, and of avoiding his displeasure; conducting 
every part of their education with ultimate refer- 
ence to this end, endeavoring to cultivate all 
those tempers and dispositions which are agreea- 
ble to his will, and to prepare them, as far as in 
your power, for the employments of heaven ? Do 
you study the directions which God has given you 
in his word, and frequently implore the assistance 
of his Holy Spirit, in performing your arduous and 
responsible duties ? Do you pay more attention 
to the souls than to the bodies of your children ? 
Do their spiritual maladies occasion you more dis- 
tress than any infirmities of body, and are you 
more pained by observing in them wrong tempers 
and sinful passions, thau by seeing thern awkward 
and unpolished in their intercourse with society ? 
Not only so, do you esteem the education of the 
heart more important than that of the mind, and 
labor more earnestly to cherish correct moral feel- 
ings and suitable affections than to impart intel- 
lectual acquirements ? In a word, do your children 
see in your daily deportment, in your conversation, 
in your very looks, that all your aims and wishes 
respecting them, are centered in the one great 
wish for their conversion; that in comparison with 
this, you regard no other object as of any impor- 
tance, and that you would be content to see them 
poor, despised, and contemned in this world, if 
they may but secure eternal riches and an unfad- 



EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



51 



Ing crown in that which is to come ? If you are 
not at least attempting to do all this, you are not 
educating your children for God. 

If any feel concerned that they have hitherto 
neglected this great and important duty, we would 
improve the subject, 

3. By urging them immediately to give it that 
attention which it merits. Consider the reasona- 
bleness of this duty. You are the natural guides, 
friends, and protectors of your children. They 
look to you for direction in their yet untrodden 
path. They are necessarily dependant on others 
for all the light which can be made to shine on 
their future course; and their unsuspecting feet 
will follow wherever you lead the way. How cruel 
in you to lead them wrong, knowing, as you do, 
the tremendous and irreparable consequences of 
such guidance ! 

This duty may be urged on the ground of jus- 
tice. You have been instrumental of conveying to 
your children a depraved nature; and are bound 
by every principle of justice to do all in your power 
to eradicate that depravity, and to oppose to its 
tendencies all the counteracting influences, with 
which the precepts, the threatenings, the promises, 
and the Spirit of God supply you; and to add to 
all the weight of your uniform example and daily 
prayers. 

And let the reward, which God promises to 
those who educate their children for him, stimulate 
you to maintain over them a steady government 
and salutary discipline; to give them line upon 
line, and precept upon precept; to talk of their 
obligations, their duties, and their prospects, when 
you sit in the house, when you walk by the way, 



52 



CHILDREN EDUCATED FOR GOD. 



when you rest and when yon rise, and on all suita- 
ble occasions, — till they shall be taken from under 
your care, or you removed from them, to enjoy the 
immediate instruction of the Great Father of our 
spirits. 



SERMON III. 



HOW LITTLE CHILDREN ARE PRE- 
VENTED FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 

Mark x, 14. 

But when Jesus saw it, he ivas much displeased, 
and said unto them, Suffer the little children to 
come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such 
is the kingdom of God. 

In the passage of which these words are a part, 
we have a beautiful instance of the fulfilment of 
an ancient prediction respecting Christ, that he 
should gather the lambs of his flock with his arms, 
and carry them in his bosom. It appears from 
the context that some persons, probably believing 
parents who had felt the efficacy of this blessing 
themselves, and who were anxious that their in- 
fant offspring should enjoy the same privilege, 
brought to him young children that he might touch 
them; or, as it is expressed by another Evangel- 
ist, that he might lay his hands on them and pray. 
His disciples, who probably thought these children 
5* 



54 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



too young to derive any advantage from Christ, 
and were apprehensive that he would be interrupt- 
ed and wearied with their applications, rebuked 
those who brought them. But our merciful Sa- 
viour, more compassionate and less concerned for 
his own comfort than his disciples, soon gave them 
to understand, that they must on no account dis- 
courage any, however young, from approaching 
him. When Jesus saw it, he was much displeas- 
ed, and said unto them, Suffer little children to 
come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is 
the kingdom of God. 

My friends, we here see a very unusual sight. 
We see the meek and lowly Jesus, not only dis- 
pleased but much displeased; displeased too, not 
with his opposers or enemies, but with his own dis- 
ciples. And what had they done to excite his 
displeasure ? Had they been guilty of neglect, 
unkindness, or a criminal disregard to his comfort 
or convenience ? No; had this been the case, he 
would have passed it over in silence, or have been 
the first to make an excuse for their conduct. But 
they discouraged little children from approaching 
him; and this was an offence which he could not 
suffer to pass unreproved. Since Christ is yester- 
day, to-day, and forever, the same, we may con- 
clude that he still entertains similar feelings to- 
wards all who imitate the conduct of his disciples 
in this respect. From our text, therefore, we may 
fairly deduce the following proposition. 

Christ is much displeased with all who, in any 
way prevent or discourage little children from ap- 
proaching him. 

With a view to illustrate and establish this 
proposition, I shall endeavor to show who are 
guilty of preventing or discouraging little children 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 



55 



from coming to Christ; and why Christ is dis- 
pleased with such persons. 

I. Who are guilty of preventing or discouraging 
children from coming to Christ ? 

I answer : Persons may be guilty of this sin 
either directly or indirectly. All are indirectly 
guilty of it, 

1. Who do not come to Christ themselves, and 
publicly profess obedience to his authority. Man, 
my friends, is an imitative being. In children the 
propensity to imitate others is peculiarly strong. 
They come into the world ignorant and helpless, 
and naturally look to others for guidance, exam- 
ple, and instruction. Their young and tender 
minds are ready to receive any impression, and 
take their complexion in a great degree from sur- 
rounding objects. What is done by those who are 
older, and who ought to be wiser than themselves, 
they are ready to conclude must be right. In- 
stinctively grasping the first hand that is held out 
to them, they suffer themselves to be led along 
without knowing or asking whither they are to go. 
Did they, during their early years, see all around 
them flocking to Christ and yielding unreserved 
obedience to his commands; were they accustom- 
ed from infancy to hear his name frequently men- 
tioned with reverence and affection, and his char- 
acter described as the perfection of excellence and 
loveliness; they would, probably in most instances, 
be led by their imitative propensities under the 
guidance of the divine Spirit to give him the first 
place in their hearts, and choose him as their best 
friend. But alas! how different is the scene 
which the world presents to their view. They see 
the great mass of those around them, neglecting 
and disobeying the Saviour of sinners; they seldom 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



bear his name or that of their heavenly Father 
mentioned, but in a way of profanation; they see 
the broad road, of sinful conformity with the world, 
crowded with travellers eager in the pursuit of 
pleasure wealth and honor; every thing-, which 
they see and hear, in short, tends to corrupt their 
unsuspecting minds, which are of themselves but 
too prone to choose and follow the downward 
path. Supposing that what is so generally neg- 
lected cannot be of much importance, and that, if 
they are no worse than those around them, their 
condition is safe, they eagerly plunge into the 
tumultuous current, and are rapidly swept away to 
perdition, with the careless multitude whose ex- 
ample they follow, unless divine grace, with resist- 
less arm, snatches them from the gulf to which 
they are hastening, conveys them to the bosom of 
Christ, and plants their feet on the Rock of ages. 

Such, my friends, are the pernicious effects of 
bad example on the youthful mind. Now every 
person, who does not come to Christ and publicly 
profess obedience to his authority, and conduct in 
a suitable manner, helps to increase the number 
and strengthen the force of evil example. He 
pours the stream of his influence into the fatal 
torrent which is sweeping away the rising genera- 
tion into the gulf of eternal ruin. He stands as a 
way-mark at the entrance of life, to direct infant 
travellers into the path of ruin. Nor can any one 
excuse himself by pretending that his example has 
no influence. There is not, I venture to assert, 
a person in this assembly whose example does not, 
in a degree at least, influence the present conduct 
and future destiny of some young immortal; and 
if his example be not such as it ought to be, be 
indirectly prevents children from coming to Christ, 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 



57 



and is answerable for all the consequences of his 
conduct. And if he be a parent, these observa- 
tions apply to him with ten-fold force. The influ- 
ence of his example on the minds of his children 
will be almost omnipotent; we clearly see that 
nothing short of Omnipotence can prevent it from 
causing their destruction. A chain in the hand of 
a demon would not more irresistibly drag them to 
ruin than the example of an irreligious parent; for 
to his parents more than to all others, does a child 
look for direction. During the first years of life, 
while his character is forming, and most lasting- 
impressions made, he considers their sayings as 
oracles, their word as law, and their opinions as 
the dictates of unerring wisdom, and their conduct 
as the pattern he is to imitate. 

How powerfully then must the example of those 
parents, who neglect to come to Christ themselves, 
tend to prevent or discourage their children from 
approaching him: not to mention that by refusing 
to devote themselves to Christ, they put it out of 
their power to dedicate their children to him, and 
thus deprive them of all the blessings which would 
result from such a dedication made in the exercise 
of faith. 

2. If those, who do not come to Christ, whose 
example is only negatively bad, are guilty of the 
sin mentioned in our text, much more are those 
guilty whose example is positively bad. In this 
class are included all who profess wrong principles, 
or openly indulge in vicious practices. The open 
infidel who denies or calls in question the divine 
authority of revelation; the conceited infidel who 
ridicules or explains away the most important doc- 
trines; the scoffer or profane swearer who famil- 
iarizes the infant ear to the language of impiety, 



58 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



and teaches the untutored tongue to utter it; the 
sabbath breaker who tramples on the barrier with 
which God has encircled the sacred day; the liar 
or slanderer who by his example leads the young 
to trifle with truth and with the reputation of their 
fellow creatures; the slave to intemperance and 
sensuality who seduces them into the paths of dis- 
sipation and excess, are all, I will not say indi- 
rectly, but directly preventing the young from com- 
ing to Christ. Every such character does much 
to bar up the way of life, is a stumbling block over 
which many will stumble, and fall to rise no more. 
And if he be one whose talents, wealth, learning, 
rank, or vivacity of manner gives him extensive 
influence in society, the pernicious effects of his 
example will be incalculable. Under his deadly 
shade no parents of purity will flourish, no flowers 
of virtue bloom. He breathes around contagion, 
pestilence and death, and while he sinks into the 
abyss of vice and infidelity, the whirlpool which he 
forms, will ingulf every thing that comes within 
the sphere of its action. 

But if he be a parent what shall we say ? If 
there be a sight on earth at which humanity must 
shudder, over which angels might weep, it is the 
sight of a young, a numerous family following with 
unsuspecting confidence a ruthless fiend, in the 
shape of a parent, who extends the hand of a guide 
only to lead them far from him who would gather 
them in his arms and carry them in his bosom; 
and betrays the helpless lambs to that roaring lion 
who goes about seeking whom he may devour. 

3. Those are indirectly guilty of preventing 
their children from coming to Christ, who employ no 
means to bring them to him, who are careful to 
educate them for this world but not for the next. 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 



59 



That children are prone to imbibe the opinions and 
imitate the conduct of others, especially of their 
parents, has already been observed. Especially 
do they learn from them to estimate the value of 
different objects. What others neglect or despise 
they consider as worthless; what others highly 
prize they esteem as valuable. Hence if those 
who have the charge of their education treated 
them as they ought, if they appeared more solicitous 
for their souls than their bodies, for their spiritual 
and eternal, than their temporal interests; if they 
frequently mentioned Christ to them, as the pearl 
of great price, and spake of an interest in his fa- 
vor as the one thing needful, compared with which 
every thing else is worthless, it is highly probable 
that, by the blessing of God, they might be early 
led to prize Christ in some measure as he de- 
serves, and to feel unsafe and uneasy till an inter- 
est in his favor was obtained. Agreeably, the 
Scriptures assure us that, if we train up a child in 
the way he should go, when he is old he will not 
depart from it. But if children perceive that their 
parents and others, who are entrusted with their 
education, are more solicitous to educate them for 
this world than for the next; more anxious for 
their present than their future welfare; more de- 
sirous to see them prosperous than pious, and more 
concerned for the health of their bodies than the 
salvation of their souls, they will inevitably be led 
to conclude that religion is of little consequence; 
that to come to Christ is needless; and that to 
obtain learning, riches, honor and applause, are 
the great objects for which men were created. 
All parents therefore who thus educate their chil- 
dren for this world and not for the next, take the 
most effectual means to prevent them from coming 



60 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



to Christ, and to cultivate that worldly mindedness 
which is directly opposed to the love of God. 
And, my friends, how great is the number who do 
this. How many even among the professed peo- 
ple of God are guilty in this respect. If it be true 
that a child, brought up in the right way, will 
never forsake it, few indeed are educated as they 
ought to be; for you need not be told that small 
is the number who follow the right way to the end 
of life. My friends, did you take one half the 
pains, or display one half the concern to educate 
your children for God, that you do for the world, 
you would most probably see them walking in the 
truth, and avoid the guilt which you now contract 
of preventing their coming to Christ. 

Under this branch of my subject I may observe, 
that if parents feel unwilling or unable to instruct 
their children themselves, they ought at least to 
countenance and assist those who are willing to 
do it. Yet many will not even do this. Most 
gladly, my friends, would we do all in our power 
to bring these lambs of the flock to Christ, and 
store their minds with religious truth, would you 
give us an opportunity of doing it. That many do 
this we acknowledge with thankfulness and pleas- 
ure. But we are compelled to add, that many do 
not. No one can suppose that more than half 
the children of this society, who are of a suitable 
age, have at any time attended on those catechet- 
ical instructions which are communicated in this 
place after divine service. Yet a very slight ex- 
ertion of parental authority would secure their at- 
tendance. If this exertion is withheld, what must 
your children think ? They see you sparing no 
pains or expense to give them that knowledge 
which is necessary for them in this world. They 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 



81 



know that you require their attendance at school, 
and pay masters for instructing them. Yet when 
they have an opportunity of acquiring religious 
knowledge without expense, you do not require 
them to improve it. Must they not suppose that 
you view religious knowledge as a thing of no con- 
sequence; and religion itself as something which 
you do not wish them to acquire ? And does not 
this negligence powerfully tend to prevent them 
from coming to Christ ? We would however in- 
dulge the hope, that when the return of a milder 
season shall permit us to resume our labors with 
the rising generation, we shall find that this neg- 
ligence proceeded rather from inattention to the 
subject, than from a wish to deprive your children 
of religious instruction. 

4. If those, who neglect to give their children 
a religious education, are guilty of indirectly pre- 
venting them from coming to Christ, much more 
so are they who give them an education which is 
positively bad, and which tends to foster and 
strengthen the evil propensities of their nature; 
propensities which must be eradicated before they 
can embrace the Saviour. Yet such an education 
there is reason to fear that not a few parents give 
their children, though probably without intending 
it. How often, for instance, do parents encourage 
a spirit of revenge in their infant children by 
teaching them to strike any inanimate object 
which may have accidentally hurt them. How 
often do they speak of dress, ornaments, or per- 
sonal beauty, in a way which is calculated to ren- 
der children proud and vain of these frivolous and 
perishing distinctions ! How often do they, by 
praise injudiciously bestowed, foster a spirit of 
envy and false ambition, and encourage that emu- 
6 



62 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



lation which the apostle expressly mentions among 
the works of flesh. How often do they humor and 
indulge them in such a manner as is directly cal- 
culated to make them peevish and discontented 
through life, and to render their wills unmanage- 
ably stubborn and perverse. These are but a few 
of the evil propensities which the education, re- 
ceived by many children, tends to strengthen and 
increase. Yet these propensities are diametrical- 
ly opposed to the religion of Christ, and tend to 
prevent children from embracing it. All therefore 
who foster and encourage them must be consider- 
ed as guilty of the fault we have been describing. 

Still more forcibly do these observations apply 
to such as endeavor to discourage their children 
from attending to religion, lest it should render 
them melancholy or singular; or who speak of its 
friends and institutions, in their presence, with dis- 
respect or contempt. Children begin to listen to 
conversation and to receive impressions from it, 
at a much earlier age than is commonly supposed; 
and their first impressions are not only most easily 
made, but are generally most deep and lasting. 
Almost every seed, which is then sown in the 
mind, will take root and produce fruit in abun- 
dance through life and often through eternity. 
There have been many well authenticated instan- 
ces in which the recollection, in after life, of .some 
word or sentence, dropped by a pious parent, has 
proved the means of bringing persons, first to re- 
flection, and finally to Christ; and hence we may 
conclude that, at the judgment day, when the 
secrets of all hearts are laid open, it will appear 
that a jest, a sneer, or sarcastic observation, re- 
specting the friends or institutions of religion, 
uttered in the presence of children, and recollected 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 63 

by them at some future day, has, in many instan- 
ces, been the means of prejudicing them against 
it, and leading them far from Christ, from heaven 
and happiness. The heathen philosophers had a 
maxim which was, i Great is the reverence due to 
children.' The import and design of this maxim, 
as understood by them, was, that great care and 
attention should be shewn in guarding against 
every thing in our conduct and conversation, which 
tended to corrupt the infant or youthful mind. But 
if the heathen, who knew nothing of the worth or 
immortality of the soul, felt the necessity of adopt- 
ing this maxim, how much more deeply should it 
be felt by us, to whom life and immortality are 
brought to light, and who are taught to know the 
unspeakable worth of the soul by the price which 
Christ paid for its redemption. 

Having thus attempted to shew who are guilty 
of preventing children from coming to Christ, I 
proceed to shew, as was proposed, 

II. Why Christ is displeased with such persons. 

1. Christ is displeased with such as prevent 
children from approaching him, because in doing it 
they display a temper which he greatly dislikes, 
and which is diametrically opposite to his own. 
The temper of Christ is emphatically a temper of 
love for the souls of men and of compassion for 
sinners. Of the existence and strength of this 
temper he has given the strongest and most une- 
quivocal proofs. His object in coming into our 
world, the object, of all his labors, of his suffer- 
ings and death, was to seek and to save those who 
are lost. But it is a long established maxim, that 
like rejoices in like. Christ, therefore, cannot but 
be pleased with those who discover a temper simi- 
lar to his own; and unite their exertions with his 



64 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



in promoting the salvation of sinners. And on the 
contrary, he cannot but be displeased with such 
as possess a temper directly the reverse of his 
own, and exhibit no love or compassion for perish- 
ing immortal beings; no desire to bring them to 
the knowledge of him, who alone can give them 
salvation. Still more must he be displeased with 
those who discourage or prevent any from ap- 
proaching him; for this is the very temper of evil 
spirits whose whole desire and employment it is, to 
seduce men into the paths of sin, and prevent them 
from coming to the knowledge of Christ. 

2. Christ is displeased with those who prevent 
or endeavor to discourage children from coming to 
him, because in so doing they oppose his will; 
and, so far as they are able, frustrate his grand 
design, a design in which he feels most deeply in- 
terested. It is his will that not one of these 
little ones should perish. It is his will that all 
men should come to the knowledge of the truth and 
be saved. It is his will that all men should be 
fellow workers with him in bringing about this 
great, and to him, most desirable event. To op- 
pose the accomplishment of this event, therefore, 
is opposing his will. It is touching him on the 
most tender point. It is like touching the very 
apple of his eye. He can bear any thing better 
than this. When his disciples manifested the 
most inexcusable unbelief, he gently rebuked them. 
When they ungratefully slept instead of watching 
with him in his last agonies, he made an excuse 
for them. When Peter once and again denied 
that he knew him, he turned and brought him to 
repentance by a look. But when these very dis- 
ciples discouraged parents from bringing to him 
their children he was much displeased. Nay more, 



PROM COMING TO CHRIST. 65 



when Peter endeavored to dissuade him from dy- 
ing for sinners, he turned and said to him, get 
thee behind me, satan; thou art an offence to me. 
These instances plainly shew how deeply the heart 
of Christ is engaged and interested in the great 
work of saving sinners ; and why nothing displeas- 
es him so much, as attempts to oppose or hinder 
its accomplishment. 

3. Christ is angry with those who prevent chil- 
dren from approaching him, because it tends to 
rob him of a part of his reward. This reward 
principally consists in the pleasure of saving sin- 
ners. He participates largely in the joy which 
is felt in heaven when a sinner repents; and is 
especially pleased to see the young seek after 
him; to hear children crying, Hosanna to the Son 
of David. No praises are more sweet to him 
than those which grace produces from the lips of 
babes. Whenever he hears and sees such things, 
he sees of the travail of his soul; he sees the fruit 
of his sufferings, and is satisfied. But those, who 
prevent or discourage children from approaching 
him, deprive him of this pleasure, rob him of a 
part of his reward, and of course excite his dis- 
pleasure. 

4. Christ is displeased with those who are 
guilty of this conduct, because it evinces a disre- 
gard and contempt of those blessings which he 
died to purchase. Those, who discourage others 
from approaching him, cannot of course believe in 
him themselves, and the language of their conduct 
is, an interest in Christ is of no consequence to 
us, or our children. Temporal prosperity and the 
favor of the world are much more important; and 
if our children can but succeed here, we care not 
what becomes of them hereafter. That Christ is 

6* 



66 



CHILDREN PREVENTED 



displeased with those who thus disbelieve him, is 
evident from his conduct while here on earth. 
We are informed that he looked round about upon 
his unbelieving hearers, with anger, being grieved 
for the hardness of their hearts. As he is yester- 
day, to-day, and forever, the same, he must still 
feel similar emotions, and is doubtless now looking 
round with a mixture of grief and anger on those, 
in this assembly, who do not cordially believe in 
him themselves, and feel anxious that the rising 
generation should embrace him. 

IMPROVEMENT. * 

1. This subject may be improved for the pur- 
pose of self-examination. For this purpose permit 
me to ask, my hearers, whether any of you are 
guilty, either directly or indirectly, by your exam- 
ple, conduct or conversation, of discouraging chil- 
dren from coming to Christ, or of preventing oth- 
ers from bringing them to him. To assist you in 
answering this question, permit me to remind you, 
that, in this, as in other respects, he that is not 
with Christ is against him. Your example must 
be either positively good, or positively bad; and 
every one, who does not encourage children in 
coming to Christ, is guilty of indirectly preventing 
it; and his negligence leads them to suppose that 
to come is of no consequence. They will generally 
be more influenced by your example than by the 
precepts of Christ; and if your example is not 
good, if you do not enter the way of life your- 
selves, and invite them to follow, you do in effect 
prevent them from entering it. 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 67 

To illustrate these remarks, permit me to men- 
tion a story, Mr. Baxter relates, of a shepherd 
driving his flock over a high and narrow bridge, 
built across a torrent. The foremost of the flock, 
terrified by some accidental occurrence, leaped 
over the bridge into the flood below; the others, 
not seeing the danger into which their leaders had 
fallen, and supposing they might safely follow 
them, leaped after them, one by one, till all Were 
destroyed. In a similar manner, I suppose, gen- 
erations of mankind perish. We have all, says 
the prophet, gone astray like sheep, and turned 
every one to his own way. The end of this way 
is destruction. Into this destruction all past sin- 
ners, who died impenitent, have already fallen. 
But we see not the gulf into which they have 
plunged; and, like the foolish sheep, pursue with 
headlong impetuosity the same road. Our chil- 
dren, supposing that they may safely follow, where 
we lead the way, rush after us, and find too late 
we have guided them to their ruin: while their chil- 
dren in turn, unless grace prevent, will follow them 
in like manner to perdition. Thus like a river 
whose waters are successively swallowed up in the 
ocean, one generation of men after another, is led 
on blindfold by the influence of example, and 
plunged into the gulf which has no bottom. Need 
any thing more be said to shew the infinite impor- 
tance of setting a good example before our chil- 
dren, and leading them after us in the path of life. 

2. From this subject parents and others, to 
whom the care of young immortals is entrusted, 
may learn the awful responsibility which rests up- 
on them. 

Were the guidance and direction of one, two, 
or more worlds entrusted to you, my friends, would 



66 CHILDREN PREVENTED 

you not feel that yours was a most important and 
awfully responsible situation ? My friends, if you 
are parents, something infinitely more important 
than worlds is committed to your care. You have 
the charge of immortal souls; souls, which our 
Saviour has taught us are each of them worth 
more than whole worlds. This charge is commit- 
ted to you, that you may bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord. And God 
considers you as answerable for the performance 
of this duty and in some measure for the salvation 
of your children. At least he will consider you 
as answerable for their destruction, should they 
perish, unless you do all in your power to prevent 
it. If you doubt this, hear what he says to his 
ministers, Son of man I have made thee a watch- 
man; hear the word at my mouth, and give them 
warning for me. When I say unto the wicked, 
Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not 
warning, he shall die in his iniquity, but his blood 
will I require at thy hand. But, my friends, 
parents are at least as much appointed by God to 
be watchmen over their children, as ministers are 
to be watchmen over their people. Therefore if 
parents prove unfaithful, the blood of their children 
will be required at their hands. If any still doubt, 
let them hear what God says to his ancient peo- 
ple, who permitted and by example taught their 
children to worship idols. Thou hast taken, says 
he, my sons and my daughters whom thou hast 
borne unto me, and hast sacrificed them unto idols; 
and is this a small matter, that thou hast slain 
my children ? Also in thy skirts is found the 
blood of the poor innocents; I have not found it 
by secret search, but upon them all. My friends, 
how much reason have many parents to cry, De- 



FROM COMING TO CHRIST. 



69 



liver us from blood guiltiness. How dreadfully is 
our whole land stained and polluted by their blood, 
and how loudly does it call for vengeance ! I am 
more and more persuaded, that neglecting the re- 
ligious education of children is one of the most 
crying sins of which we are guilty as a people. 
If any doubt this, let him recollect the passage 
already quoted, Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and he will not depart from it. My 
friends, these are the words of God, of the God of 
truth. Look round and see how few are walking 
in the right way; hence learn how few have been 
brought up in the way they should go. Are there 
any of your children who do not walk in the way 
they should go ? It must be because they have 
not been properly educated, and the blessing of 
God not sufficiently prayed for. And it is perhaps 
impossible for any one, who is not a real con- 
sistent Christian, to educate children properly. 
None but such can truly dedicate their children to 
God. None but such can sincerely pray for, or 
obtain from Christ that wisdom and grace, which 
are necessary to bring them up for God; and none 
but such can expect a blessing to follow their ex- 
ertions. You can readily see that an unbelieving 
impenitent man is not qualified to be a minister of 
Christ, to guide immortal souls to heaven. How 
then can an impenitent unbelieving parent bring 
up his children as he ought, in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord ? My friends, what a 
powerful motive does this afford to induce you to 
become the real disciples of Christ. Not only 
your own salvation, but very probably that of your 
children, depends upon it. If then you love them, 
if you love yourselves, if you would not sink under 



70 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



the weight of their blood, and hear them cursing 
you forever, as the authors of their ruin, be per- 
suaded without delay to come to Christ, to bring 
them with you, to bind yourselves and them to him 
in an everlasting covenant. 



SERMON IV # 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, TO THE 
COMING GENERATION. 

Psalm cxlv, 4. 

One generation shall praise thy works to another 7 
and shall declare thy mighty acts. 

In bringing into existence angels and men, — 
the only orders of intelligent creatures with which 
we are acquainted, — the all-wise Creator saw fit 
to adopt two very different methods of proceeding. 
The angels, we have reason to believe, were all 
created at the same time, and in the full maturity 
of their intellectual powers. But men are brought 
into existence successively; and a small part only 
of the whole race inhabit this world at the same 
period. One generation gives birth to another, 
and then passes off the stage of life, to give place 
to its descendants. From the mode which God has 
thus adopted of bringing mankind into existence 
in successive generations, many most important 
consequences result. 



72 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



Of these consequences one is, that they all 
originally possess the same moral nature; for it 
seems to be an established law, and universal so 
far as this world is concerned, that every thing 
which is productive shall produce its own like- 
ness. — Again; in the mode of bringing mankind Wo 
existence, all the natural relations which subsist 
among them have their origin. No similar relations, 
it is evident, can subsist among angelic beings. 
Among them the titles of parent, child, brother, 
and other names expressive of relationship, are 
not known. — Once more; from the mode of bring- 
ing mankind into existence, which God has adopt- 
ed, result most of the social and relative duties 
which he requires them to perform. Of these du- 
ties one of the most important is described in our 
text. One generation shall praise thy works to 
another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. 

This passage may be understood either as a pre- 
diction, or as a command. On the present occa- 
sion I shall consider it as a command. Viewed 
in this light, it prescribes a most important duty 
to each of the successive generations of mankind; 
of course, to the present generation, as well as to 
those which shall follow it. To show in what the 
duty consists, and to state some reasons why it 
should be performed, is my design in the present 
discourse. 

With this view I remark, that the duty here 
enjoined consists of two parts. The first is, to 
declare, or make known the works of God to suc- 
ceeding generations, and, especially, to that gen- 
eration which immediately follows us. In other 
words, it is to inform them what God has done, 
and what he is now doing. This, it is obvious, 
embraces a wide field of instruction; for the works 
of God are both numerous and various. 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 73 



1. They include his ivorks of creation. These, 
therefore, we must make known to the generation 
which follows us. We must declare to them the 
fact, that in the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth, with all which they contain; that, 
when nothing existed besides himself, — worlds, 
angels, men, and animals came into being at his 
command. They include, 

2. His ivorks of providence. These, therefore, 
must be made known to the succeeding genera- 
tion. They must be taught that, in a mysteri- 
ous, but most powerful and efficacious manner, 
God preserves and governs every thing, which he 
has made; that all events, from the greatest to 
the most minute, are under his control; and that 
what men call the laws of nature are only fixed 
modes of operation which he has adopted. Their 
attention must be particularly directed to those 
great dispensations of providence which respect 
our whole race; to those which are recorded in the 
Scriptures; to those of which their country has 
been the scene or the object; and to those which 
more immediately affect themselves. In short, 
they must be taught to see God's hand in every 
thing, to view him as the source of all temporal 
blessings, and the great agent who worketh all in 
all. 

3. God's works include the work of redemption, 
considered as a whole, together with all those 
gracious dispensations which are parts of it. This 
is the great work of works, — the work with refer- 
ence to which all God's other works are perform- 
ed. In this work every individual of every gen- 
eration is deeply interested; and, therefore, this 
work especially should be made known to all. To 
make known this work, is to make known all that 

7 



74 DUTY OF THE PRESENT^ 

God has ever done for the salvation of our ruined 
race, so far as he has revealed it to us. It in- 
cludes all the preparations which have been made 
for the coming of Christ; his coming itself, the 
work which he performed and the sufferings which 
he endured while on earth, and what he has done 
since he ascended to heaven. It includes also the 
revelation which God has given us in the Scrip- 
tures; for this is one of his works, though men 
were employed in effecting it. They wrote, but 
he dictated. They held the pen, but he moved it. 
Such are the works of God which one generation 
should make known to another; and a very little 
reflection will convince us that, in making known 
all these works, the whole system of religious 
truth and duty will be made known; for there is 
no doctrine, no precept of Christianity, which is 
not either founded upon some of God's works, or 
intimately connected with them. 

But how, it may be asked, are these works of 
God to be communicated by one generation to an- 
other ? I answer,— -they are to be communicated, 
generally speaking, just as a knowledge of other 
things is communicated by one generation to an- 
other. Observation teaches us, that all the 
knowledge of temporal things which one genera- 
tion possesses, is usually imparted to the next, 
This is done in various ways, Parents teach 
their children, if they are able; and if not, they 
employ other persons to teach them those things 
which are necessary to qualify them for active life. 
Colleges, academies, and schools are founded, and 
their support provided for, either by the civil pow- 
ers, or by the munificence of private individuals, 
on purpose to impart instruction to the rising gen- 
ation, A great part of the knowledge which every 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 75 



generation possesses is also recorded in books, 
and thus transmitted to posterity. And we may 
add, that much useful knowledge is every day im- 
parted casually in conversation, in carrying on the 
common business of life. Now in all these ways 
one generation ought to communicate to another a 
knowledge of the works of God. Parents who 
possess this knowledge, — and every parent ought 
to possess it, — must impart it to their children. 
All who are employed in the instruction of youth 
should impart it to their pupils. A competent 
number of well qualified religious teachers should 
be provided. Seminaries, if necessary, should be 
founded and supported for the education of such 
teachers. All who are qualified to instruct man- 
kind by their writings, should communicate reli- 
gious knowledge through the medium of the press; 
and those who are not thus qualified, should em- 
brace every opportunity of imparting it in conver- 
sation. In one or another of these various ways, 
all the religious knowledge which is possessed by 
one generation must be transmitted to the genera- 
tion which follows it. This constitutes the first 
part of the duty enjoined in the text. 

The second part is, for one generation to praise 
GooVs works to another. While they communi- 
cate a knowledge of his works they must speak 
highly of them. While they tell what he has 
done, they must add, he has done all things well. 
When they describe his works of creation, they 
must extol the wisdom, power and goodness which 
are displayed in them. While they communicate 
a knowledge of his works of providence, they must 
applaud them as infinitely wise, holy, just, and 
good. A nd while they exhibit the wonders of re- 
demption, and God's works of grace to the follow- 



76 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



ing generation, they must accompany the exhibition 
with those glowing expressions of admiration, 
gratitude, love and joy, which this grand display 
of all God's perfections ought to call forth from 
those, for whose benefit it was made, and whose 
everlasting happiness it is designed to promote. 
In short, the high praises of God must be sedu- 
lously poured into the ears of the rising genera- 
tion; all the praise which has come down to us 
from former generations, or which has resounded 
from heaven to earth, must be echoed back to 
them; they must never hear him spoken of, but in 
just, that is, most exalted terms. They must be 
convinced that we regard him with the utmost ad- 
miration, reverence, gratitude, and love; and be 
made, if possible, to feel that among the gods 
there is none like Jehovah, nor any works like 
his works. 

Such is the duty which every generation of man- 
kind is commanded to perform with respect to the 
generation which immediately follows it. 

Should it be thought by any, that the passage 
under consideration does not enjoin this duty; that 
it is simply a prediction and not a command; 
other passages can be easily adduced, in which 
the duty is explicitly enjoined. The church of 
God is represented as saying, We will not hide 
what our fathers have told us, showing to the gen- 
eration to come the praises of the Lord, and his 
strength, and his wonderful works which he hath 
done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, 
and appointed a law in Israel, which he command- 
ed our fathers, that they should make them known 
to their children; that the generation to come 
might know them, and declare them to their chil- 
dren. In this passage the duty of transmitting 



TO THE COMING GENERATION, 77 



the knowledge and the praises of God's works 
from one generation to another, is surely prescribed 
and enjoined as clearly as language can do it. 

Having shown in what the duty consists. I pro- 
ceed, as was proposed, 

II. To state some reasons which should induce 
us to perform it. 

1 . One reason may be found in the natural re- 
lations which exist between the present and the 
next generation. These relations are intimate 
and endearing. The next generation will owe its 
existence to the present. They will be our de- 
scendants, our children. Even those of us who 
are related to none of them as parents, will be 
related to them in some other way. In short, 
there is probably not one individual present, who 
will have none that are related to them in the next 
generation. Now in consequence of the relations 
which exist between this generation and the next, 
we are its natural guardians, instructers, and 
guides. To us the education of their bodies, their 
minds, and their hearts, are entrusted. They have 
a natural right to look to us for instruction, and 
to expect that we should teach them every thing 
which it is necessary for them to know. And is 
it not necessary that they should know their 
Creator, their God, the being on whom they de- 
pend ? Is it not necessary that they should know 
the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, whom to 
know is eternal life ? Is it not necessary that 
they should have that knowledge which makes men 
wise unto salvation ? 

Again; the rising generation look to us for in- 
struction respecting the real value of objects. In 
regard to these they are liable to be deceived, 
They cannot readily distinguish between appear- 
7* 



78 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



ances and reality, between food and poison. They 
need, and they have a claim to, the benefit of our 
knowledge and experience. They expect that we 
will speak to them in high terms of that which is 
most valuable; that we shall teach them to admire 
what is most admirable, and to pursue what is 
most worthy of pursuit. And is there any thing 
more admirable than the works and perfections of 
God; any thing more valuable, or more worthy of 
pursuit, than his favor ? We ought then to praise 
him in their hearing, to speak of him in the high- 
est terms; and to show them by our conduct that 
our praises are sincere. If we fail to do this, we 
sin against the relations which we sustain. If he 
who provides not for his own, especially for those 
of [his own house, is worse than an infidel; what 
shall be said of him, who communicates to his own 
children, no knowledge of God, and teaches them 
neither by precept nor by example to praise him ! 

2. Another reason for the performance of this 
duty may be found in the fact, that each of the 
successive generations of mankind is the natural 
and ligJitful heir of the generation which preceded 
it. This is the appointment of God, the Sove- 
reign proprietor of all things. He has granted to 
each generation of mankind a life-estate only in 
their temporal possessions; and when the period, 
for which this grant was made, terminates, their 
possessions must go to the next generation. The 
present generation, for instance, can hold their 
lands, houses, goods, and privileges during life 
only; and when they pass off the stage, all these 
things will become the property of the next gener- 
ation. Since then that generation are, by God's 
appointment, our natural and rightful heirs; since 
they will inherit all our other possessions, — it 



TO THE COMING GENERATION 79 

seems right and proper that they should inherit our 
knowledge of God and of his works. And since 
we cannot bequeath this knowledge by a will or 
testament, as we can our other possessions; since 
all which we do not communicate, while living, 
will be buried with us and lost forever; it seems 
necessary that we should impart it while life con- 
tinues; and also make suitable provision for its 
preservation and increase. Every one who be- 
lieves the Scriptures, and indeed every one who 
believes that men are accountable, will acknowl- 
edge that it would be cruel to transmit our tem- 
poral possessions to posterity, are yet withhold 
from them that religious knowledge, which alon8 
can teach them how to use these possessions, and 
prevent them from becoming a snare and a curse, 
as they certainly will, if not employed in a right 
manner. Would not he be thought greatly defi- 
cient, either in prudence or in affection, who should 
bequeath to his children a magazine of gunpowder, 
or a quantity of virulent poison, and yet leave them 
in ignorance how to use it in such a manner as 
would be safe to themselves and others ? My 
hearers, to bequeath a large portion of wealth, or 
of worldly knowledge, or of any other temporal 
possession to posterity, without imparting to them 
a knowledge of God, of their duty, and their ac- 
countability, is worse than to bequeath them poison 
without cautioning them how they use it. How 
many have we seen ruined, both for this world and 
the next, in consequence of inheriting from their par- 
ents a large estate, without being taught how to 
use it, or to know that they must account for it! 
On the other hand, he who bequeaths posterity 
the knowledge and the praises of God, bequeaths 
a rich inheritance, even should he leave them 
nothing else. 



80 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



3. The obligation to perform this duty will ap- 
pear still more evident, if we recollect that for the 
religious knowledge and the means of acquiring it, 
which we possess, we are indebted, under God, to 
preceding generations. From them we received 
the Bible, that grand, inexhaustible depository of 
religious truth. From them we have received 
numberless other volumes, designed to explain and 
enforce its contents. From them we received all 
the oral religious instruction which was imparted 
to us in our early years. To them we areindebt- 
ed for our religious institutions, for a large propor- 
tion of our religious teachers, and for most of the 
colleges and other seminaries in which men are 
educated for the teacher's office. And all these 
blessings they imparted to us, on purpose that we 
might transmit them to posterity. It was their 
design, as it is the will of God, that we should do 
this. Our religious knowledge and privileges may. 
therefore, be considered as a kind of entailed 
estate; or an estate which we have no right to 
alienate, and which we are under obligation to 
transmit, unimpaired, to posterity. And can any 
of you wish, or even consent, to disregard these 
obligations ? Can you consent that the life-giving 
streams of that knowledge which makes men wise 
unto salvation, and which have flowed down from 
former generations to the present, should here 
stop, and proceed no further ? Can you consent 
that, at the last day, these streams should be 
traced down to us, and there be found to have dis- 
appeared, like a river lost among sands ? Can 
you consent that your descendants should perish 
for thirst, and through eternity curse you as the 
cause ? Shall they have reason to say, religious 
knowledge was transmitted and increased until it 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 



81 



reached our fathers, but with them it was lost ? 
Let those especially, who were blessed with pious 
parents, and with early religious instruction, think 
of these questions. Let them recollect, that they 
have incurred a debt, which they can discharge 
only by communicating to the next generation the 
instruction which they have received from the last. 
And let all my hearers remember, that there is no 
country on the face of the globe, in which these 
remarks should have such weight, as in New 
England. In no other country are the present 
generation so deeply indebted to their ancestors 
as in this. O, what a birthright, what an inheri- 
tance did the fathers of New England bequeath to 
their posterity! Their knowledge of God, and 
their disposition to praise him have long since car- 
ried them to heaven; but they have left these 
blessings to us, that we may be taught and per- 
suaded to follow them. And shall we disappoint 
their hopes and frustrate their endeavors ? Most 
men are unwilling that an estate which has been 
for ages in their family shall go out of it. Shall 
we not then be unwilling that the religion of our 
fathers, and the blessings connected with it, should 
go out of the family ? Shall we not, instead of 
selling our birthright, like profane Esau, say with 
Naboth, God forbid that I should part with the 
inheritance of my fathers! God forbid that I 
should fail to transmit to posterity the rich legacy 
which has descended to me. 

4. A still more powerful reason why we should 
perform this duty, may be found in the fact, that 
we transmit to our posterity a corrupt and deprav- 
ed nature, which, unless its influence is counteract- 
ed by religion, will render them miserable here 
and hereafter. It is in vain to deny oV conceal 



82 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



the fact. The Scriptures assert it in the plainest 
terms, and universal observation and experience 
confirm the assertion. Every generation of man- 
kind is an exact counterpart of the generation 
which preceded it; and exhibits the same moral 
image, the same sinful propensities, the same dis- 
position to neglect and disobey God. Man was, 
indeed, first planted a noble vine; but he fell, and 
in consequence of his fall, men are now the degen- 
erate plants of a strange vine. Nor are the human 
form and the human countenance more certainly 
transmitted by them to their posterity, than is a 
depraved and corrupt nature. Those of you who 
are parents, and who know any thing of your own 
hearts, see in your children an exact moral resem- 
blance of yourselves. You are at no loss to de- 
termine whence they derive those sinful passions 
and propensities which they exhibit; you see, full 
blown in your own hearts, all those evils, the seeds 
of which you discover in them. Thus from one 
generation to another the poisonous streams flow 
down, diffusing moral contagion and death, and 
threatening to engulf the whole race in remediless 
sinfulness, wretchedness, and despair. It is no 
part of my present design to prove the justice of 
that constitution, which establishes a connection 
between the moral nature of parents and that of 
their offspring. That constitution is one of God's 
works, one of those works which we are required 
not only to make known, but to praise. Of course, 
it must be just. But it is more to my present 
purpose to call your attention to the means which 
God has graciously appointed for the remedy and 
prevention of those evils, under which the succes- 
sive generations of mankind have so long groaned 
These means are a faithful performance of the 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 



83 



duty enjoined in our text. And we have reason to 
believe, that, if this duty were faithfully and uni- 
versally attended to, it would be sufficient. Let 
all the individuals of any one generation acquire 
the knowledge of God, and exercise those feelings 
towards his character and his works, which are 
expressed in praise; and then let them communi- 
cate this knowledge and express these feelings to 
all the individuals of the next generation; and the 
tide of corruption which now overflows the world 
would, in a great measure at least, be stopped. I 
do not mean that any generation, even if every 
member of it were pious, could convert the next; 
but I believe, and the Scriptures warrant the be- 
lief, that if one generation should faithfully per- 
form its duty, God would bless its exertions and 
answer its prayers, by rendering the next genera- 
tion almost universally pious. And then that gen- 
eration, in its turn, would perform the same duty 
to the next, with similar success; and thus the 
knowledge and praises of God would flow down 
from generation to generation, and fill the earth, 
even as the waters fill the seas. If any doubt 
this, let me request them to suppose that all the 
present inhabitants of this town should become ju- 
dicious, well-informed, and zealous Christians; 
that they should all exemplify Christianity in their 
temper and conduct; that every practice and 
amusement inconsistent with pure religion should 
be banished; that they should all take as much 
pains to educate children for the other world, as 
they do to educate them for this; that children 
should never hear God or his works mentioned, 
but with admiration, gratitude, and love, and be 
taught from infancy that religion is the one thing 
needful; — I say, suppose this to be the case, and 



84 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



can you doubt that all, or nearly all the next gea- 
eration in this town would become Christians; and 
in their turn act the same part to the generation 
which should follow them ? If so, how much more 
probable is it, that similar consequences would fol- 
low, should all the inhabitants of this country, 
or of the world do the same ? If any still doubt, 
let them think of such passages as these: Train 
up a child in the way he should go, and when he 
is old, he will not depart from it. I know hira, — 
says God of Abraham, — that he will command his 
children and his household after hira. And what 
will be the consequence ? They shall keep the 
way of the Lord. Such language more than inti- 
mates, that, if one generation should perform its 
duty to the next, the next generation would be 
pious. In the millennium it will be so. Men will 
then be born, as they are now, with a corrupt na- 
ture; but the effects of it will, through the bless- 
ing of God, be prevented by the pious education 
which they will receive, and the pious examples 
which will be every where set before them. They 
will see that all who are older and wiser than 
themselves do know, and love, and praise God, 
and value his favor more than life; and the same 
proneness to imitate others, which now leads 
them astray, will then lead them to seek the good 
and right way. 

And now, parents, let me beseech you to think 
seriously of this. You have imparted to your chil- 
dren your own corrupt nature. That unwillingness 
to retain God in your knowledge, that aversion to 
his service, that dislike of religion, that strong pro- 
pensity to pursue this world and neglect the other, 
which, you cannot but be conscious, exist in your- 
selves, you have transmitted to them. And in 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 



85 



consequence of these evils which they have derived 
from you, they will perish forever, unless these 
evils be counteracted. But God has in mercy put 
into your hands means to counteract them. Make 
known to them his works and his will. Pour into 
their ears his praises. Let them see, that you 
think of nothing, care for nothing, fear nothing, 
and love nothing, as you do him. Let them see 
that you care, comparatively, very little what their 
situation is in this world, provided they receive a 
Christian's portion in the world to come. Do this, 
and add fervent persevering prayer; and the cor- 
rupt nature which they have derived from you shall 
be changed by God's grace, a new heart and a 
right spirit shall be given them, and they shall be 
thus prepared to perform the same good office for 
their children, which you have performed for them. 

Should it be thought by any, that though the 
remarks which have been made prove the proprie- 
ty and necessity of communicating to the next gen- 
eration a knowledge of God's works, — they do not 
prove it to be necessary that we should praise him 
in their hearing; I answer, the former without the 
latter will be of little, if any, avail. It will an- 
swer very little purpose to communicate knowledge 
of any object to the rising generation, unless they 
see that we highly prize the object itself, and con- 
sider a knowledge of it as exceedingly valuable. 
It must be evident to every person of observation, 
that children and youth, in forming their estimate 
of different objects, are guided almost entirely by 
the opinions of those who precede them in the 
journey of life. A child, left to itself, would pre- 
fer the smallest coin to a bank note, and a piece 
of painted glass to the most valuable diamond. 
And how does he learn to judge more correctly ? 
8 



86 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



Simply by observing how objects are valued bj 
those who are older and wiser than himself. Id 
this way, young* persons, and even children, soon 
learn what we think mostvaluable. And however 
diligently we may impart to them a knowledge of 
God and his works, if we do not appear to think 
highly of him, to love his character, to admire his 
works, and to prefer him to every other object, — 
our instructions will have very little effect. But 
if they hear us frequently speak of him in the 
glowing language of gratitude, love, and praise; 
if they see that we consider him as all in all; that 
we regard it as detestable and base to neglect 
him; and that the language of our conduct is. 
Whom have we in heaven but thee, and what is 
there on earth that we desire besides thee ? — they 
will, in all probability, be insensibly led to adopt, 
not only our opinions respecting him, but our feel- 
ings towards him. The just, but trite remark, 
that, if we would ' speak to the heart, we must 
speak from the heart, is especially true with re- 
spect to children and youth. Perhaps one reason 
why many parents, who are careful to give their 
children religious instruction, see very little good 
effect result from their labors, is, they do not with 
sufficient frequency and fervency speak to them in 
praise of God; do not appear to overflow with 
those emotions which praise expresses; but merely 
speak of him in a dry, cold, and formal manner. 
But to say nothing of parental efforts, how great, 
probably, would be the effect upon the rising gen- 
eration, were they accustomed from their child- 
hood to hear our rulers, our legislators, our judges, 
our officers, our wise, and learned, and wealthy 
men, all speak of God and of his works in the 
highest terms, and utter his praises with strong 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 87 

emotions! if they never heard his name profaned, 
or religion treated with disrespect! How would 
such examples tend to subdue their sinful prejudi- 
ces, and tear down their opposition to the truth! 
To speak God's praises to the rising generation 
is then, if possible, even more important than to 
impart to them a knowledge of his works. Both, 
however, are necessary, and should never be sep- 
arated. 

It would be easy to enlarge on this subject, and 
to multiply reasons in favor of the duty before us, 
to an indefinite extent; but the undesigned length 
of the preceding remarks, renders it necessary to 
close with a brief improvement. 

1. Is it the duty of the present generation to 
communicate a knowledge of God's works, and to 
proclaim his praises to the generation which will 
succeed us ? Then it is incumbent on all to qual- 
ify themselves for the performance of this duty. 
It is incumbent on all to acquire a competent por- 
tion of religious knowledge, and to exercise those 
devotional feelings, which are expressed in praise. 
The man who does not know God, and who can- 
not cordially praise his character and his works, 
is totally unqualified to discharge one of the most 
important duties, which his Maker requires of him, 
and which he is placed in this world to perform. 
He is qualified neither to live usefully nor to die 
happily. My hearers, is not this the character 
of some of you ? Are there not some before me, 
who know too little of God and his works, to im- 
part a knowledge of either to the rising genera- 
tion ? Are there not a still greater number, who 
cannot cordially praise the works of God — nay, 
who are dissatisfied with many of his works, who 
complain of his law, neglect his gospel, and mur- 



CD 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



mur at the dispensations of his providence? And 
how can such persons declare God's praises to the 
next generation ? Or what can they teach it, but 
to neglect him, disobey him, and complain of him? 
Surely, no such person ought to be a parent, or 
an instruct^of youth. Surely, no such person is 
fit to educate immortal souls. 

2. Is it the duty of one generation to declare 
and praise God's works to another ? Then it be- 
comes us all to inquire how far we have performed 
this duty to the generation which is to succeed us. 
Let me then ask every one who has reached the 
age of manhood, — what have you done to impart 
religious knowledge to the minds, and call forth 
the praises of God from the hearts, of the rising 
generation ? There are, I know, many present 
who can reply, We have done something for the 
promotion of these objects. There are parents 
who have, in some measure at least, performed 
this duty to their children. There are some pres- 
ent, who have imparted religious instruction to 
their apprentices, servants, and dependants: — 
some, who have voluntarily labored in our Sabbath 
schools, to impart this knowledge to children with 
whom they are not naturally connected, and to 
call forth from their lips the high praises of God; 
and some who have contributed to diffuse this 
knowledge to the ends of the earth. But is there 
one present, who can truly say, I have done all 
that was in my power ? I have done every thing 
which I was able to do for the rising generation 
in my own country, and in other parts of the 
world; — for, be it remembered, the rising genera- 
tion in other countries, in pagan, Jewish, and 
Mohammedan lands have claims upon us, commen- 
surate with our ability. In this, as in other re- 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 89 

spects, charity begins at home, but it must not end 
there. And is there one parent present, who can 
truly say, I have done every thing which I could 
do for the religious education of my own children ? 
And are there not many, who have done compara- 
tively nothing for any part of the rising genera- 
tion, even for the instruction of their own families 
in religious truths ? Are there not some present 
who, if they were to die this day, would leave be- 
hind them no mind upon which they had made the 
least salutary impression — the slightest proof, that 
they knew and praised God themselves, or that 
they had ever taught others to do it ? Nay 
more — are there not some who, as far as they have 
taught any thing to the rising generation, have 
taught them to neglect religion, to dishonor God, 
perhaps to take his name in vain 6 My hearers, 
let me beseech you to think seriously of these 
questions and of the subjects which led to them. 
If there be any who have performed no part of the 
duty enjoined in our text, let them immediately 
begin to perform it. Let those who have already 
done something, be excited to do more. Let it 
be remembered, that there is probably not now in 
New England one half the religion, in proportion 
to the number of inhabitants, that there was a 
century and a half since. If our posterity are not 
to become pagans or infidels, not only something, 
but much must be done. 

3. Is it the duty of this generation to make 
known God's works and proclaim his praises to 
the next ? Then it is the duty of the rising gen- 
eration to receive with eagerness the religious in- 
struction which is afforded them, and to drink in 
the praises of God. Remember, my young friends, 
we shall soon pass off the stage, and you will take 
8* 



90 



DUTY OF THE PRESENT, 



our places. Then a new generation will spring 
up, whom it will be your duty to instruct. Now 
is the time to qualify yourselves for the perform- 
ance of that duty. Now then acquire a knowl- 
edge of God and of his works. Now learn to 
love, admire, and praise him, that you may teach 
those who will come after you to do the same. 
Do this; and after you have, like ancient worthies, 
served God and your generation, you will rest from 
your labors, your works will follow you, and future 
generations shall rise up and call you blessed. 

Finally. What a happy, glorious world will 
this be, when our text, considered as a command, 
shall be universally obeyed; considered as a pre- 
diction, shall be universally fulfilled! Whether 
we obey it or not, this will one day be the case. 
Then one generation will eagerly transmit the 
knowledge and praises of God to the next; while 
that generation will, with alacrity, receive and 
hand them down to their descendants. Then all 
shall know God from the eldest to the youngest, 
from the least to the greatest. Then those things 
which are an abomination in the sight of God, 
shall no longer be highly esteemed among men; 
and the applauses which have been lavished, and 
the encomiums which have been bestowed upon 
heroes and conquerors, shall be transferred to the 
faithful soldiers and martyrs of Jesus Christ; while 
every knee shall bow to him, and every tongue 
shall confess him Lord to the glory of the Father. 
Then every day will be a day of thanksgiving; all 
nations, tongues, and languages shall join in one 
universal chorus of praise. Princes and subjects, 
young men and maidens, old men and children, 
shall conspire to swell the song. In one immense 
cloud of incense the grateful offering shall ascend 



TO THE COMING GENERATION. 91 



the skies. Heaven shall hear with wonder and 
delight its own songs sung on earth; and God, the 
all good and almighty Father of the universe, 
bending from his eternal throne, shall accept the 
worship, smile with ineffable benignity and com- 
placency on the worshippers, and shed down upon 
them, with unsparing hand, his richest blessings. 
Then death will indeed lose his sting, and cease 
to be the king of terrors. Easy and pleasant will 
be the passage from earth to heaven; and those 
who die will only pass from a world, filled with the 
glory and the high praises of God, to contemplate 
brighter glories, and join in louder praises in the 
world above. — This is no poetic fiction, no sick 
man's dream, but sober truth. God has said it, 
and it shall be done. Let us all, then, exert our- 
selves to hasten this glorious consummation. It 
may not greet our own, or our children's eyes; 
but our children's children may witness it. 



SERMON V. 



ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE PER- 
VERSENESS OE CHILDREN, 

2 Samuel xviii, 33. 

And the king was much moved, and went up to 
the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as 
he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom! my 
son, my son Absalom! would God I had died 
for thee, 0 Jlbsalom, my son, my son! 

With the character of Absalom, his unnatural 
rebellion, and his untimely, but merited fate, you 
are all I presume acquainted. You doubtless 
recollect, that, being defeated in a battle which 
he fought, with a view to dethrone his father Da- 
vid, he was entangled in his flight among the 
boughs of an oak, and there, suspended between 
the heavens and the earth, was slain by his pur- 
suers. In our text, we have an account of the 
manner in which his father was affected, by the 
tidings of his death. He was much moved, and 
retired to his chamber weeping, and exclaiming, 



ANGUISH OF PARENTS. 



93 



as he went, O Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! 
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my 
son, my son! 

It cannot I think be doubted, at least no pious 
parent will doubt, that the grief which David felt 
on this occasion, was caused principally, though 
not solely, by an apprehension that his son was 
unprepared for death, and that of course his soul 
was lost forever. He knew what had been his 
character and conduct; he knew that he was sud- 
denly cut off in the midst of his sins, with little or 
no opportunity for repentance; and he knew., for 
he tells us in one of his psalms, that all the wick- 
ed, and all that forget God, shall be turned into 
hell. He could not, therefore, but greatly fear, 
or rather feel almost certain^ that this was the 
portion of his son. 

It is probable, also, that the anguish occasion- 
ed by this heart-rending thought, was aggravated 
by the reflection, that in consequence of having 
neglected to restrain and correct his son, in early 
life, he had been indirectly the occasion of his 
ruin. Hence his bitter cries; hence especially his 
wish that he had died in his son's stead. He was 
himself prepared for death; and, therefore, it 
would have been to him a comparatively trifling 
evil, and he hoped, that, had Absalom lived, he 
might have repented of his sins, and become pre- 
pared for death. Now, all such hopes were blast- 
ed at once, and forever. 

My hearers, there are two classes of persons in 
this assembly, to whom some reflections on the 
subject before us may be profitable. They may 
be so to the irreligious children of pious pcwents; 
and to pious parents themselves. 



94 ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE 

I. I would call to this subject the attention of 
every sinner present, who has a pious parent, or 
parents still living. I wish to shew such persons 
how much anguish they occasion their parents, by 
neglecting to prepare for death. Of this anguish 
such persons think, because they know, very little. 
It is desirable that they should know more of it 
because this knowledge may lead them to serious 
reflection, and perhaps to repentance. 

Permit me then to remind those of you whom I 
am addressing, that the hearts, or feelings of all 
truly pious persons are very much alike. Every 
Christian parent in David's situation, would feel, 
in some measure, as David felt. Every Christian 
parent feels a similar concern for the souls, the 
eternal interests of his children. Your parents 
feel this concern for you. Consequently, your re- 
maining in an irreligious state occasions them 
much unhappiness; for it is not only over a dead 
child that such parents weep. No, they are dis- 
tressed for you now, while you are in the full en- 
joyment of health. 

In the first place, they are distressed by appre- 
hensions that you may be led astray by vicious 
companions, or become the slaves of some vicious 
habit, or embrace false and destructive sentiments 
respecting religion. They have cause to entertain 
such apprehensions. They have often seen the 
children of even pious parents fall a prey to these 
evils; they have seen those who in their youth 
were amiable, correct, and full of respect for re- 
ligion, afterwards become enslaved by dissipation, 
intemperance, and infidelity; they know that your 
hearts resemble theirs, and that you are exposed 
to similar temptations. How can they then but be 
distressed for you? It will be in vain to attempt to 



PERVERSENESS OF CHILDREN. 95 

relieve their distress by assuring them that you 
will never forsake the path of rectitude. They 
know too well, how little human resolutions and 
promises are worth. They have witnessed the 
failure of the strongest resolutions, # and they have 
reason to fear that yours will be broken in a sim- 
ilar manner. They know that there is but one 
being who can hold you up; but one Shepherd who 
can keep you from wandering, and to this Shep- 
herd they cannot persuade you to come. They 
have, therefore, no security that you will not be- 
come the vilest of the vile. This being the case, 
their anxiety must be as great as the affection 
which they feel for you, and as their desire to see 
you happy. Were these however the only dan- 
gers to which you are exposed; were you not im- 
mortal, accountable creatures, the distress which 
your parents feel for you would be comparatively 
small. 

But, in the second place, they are much more 
distressed by fears that you will perish forever. 
They believe what God has said respecting the 
future state of those who die in their sins. They 
know the terrors of the Lord. They know that 
unless you repent, you will perish. They know 
that unless you are born again you cannot see the 
kingdom of God. They know that God is able to 
destroy both soul and body in hell, where their 
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; and 
that he will thus destroy you, should death come 
and find you unprepared. Knowing these things, 
and loving you as they do, how great must be their 
anguish! How must they feel when such reflec- 
tions as these crowd into their minds: Perhaps 
this child, whom I have so often caressed and 
nourished, over whom I have so often wept, anc{ 



96 ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE 

for whom I have cared and labored so much, will 
continue an enemy of the God who made him; will 
live only to fill up the measure of his iniquities, 
and to treasure up wrath; then die unprepared, 
and be miserable forever. Hence they often think 
of you, and weep and pray for you, when you are 
quietly sleeping. Hence, the more careless and 
thoughtless you appear, the greater is their anxie- 
ty. Hence they earnestly look and wait for some 
appearances of religious sensibility, notice all such 
appearances with delight, and feel the most pain- 
ful disappointment when they vanish. 

In short, could you know all the sorrows which 
your parents have suffered since your birth, you 
would find that a great part of them have been 
occasioned by anxiety for you, for your immortal 
interests; and that to the same cause is to be 
ascribed, a great part of their daily sorrows. 
You can in some measure conceive what would 
have been the feelings of Noah, when he saw the 
flood approaching, had one of his sons, in defiance 
of all warnings and intreaties, refused to believe 
its approach, and enter the ark. You can con- 
ceive how greatly it would have diminished the 
happiness which his own safety occasioned, to look 
from the windows of the ark, and see a child ex- 
posed to be swept away with an ungodly world. 
What then must be the feelings of your parents, 
how greatly must it diminish the joy which their 
own safety occasions, to see you out of Christ, of 
whom the ark was a type, and hourly exposed to 
the wrath, which, as a deluge, will come upon the 
world of the ungodly; to see that all their warn- 
ings and intreaties cannot persuade you to fly from 
this wrath. 



PERVERSENESS OF CHILDREN. 



97 



The distress which you thus occasion them is 
further aggravated by the reflection, that if you 
perish, your doom will be peculiarly terrible. You 
have enjoyed peculiar privileges. You have been 
dedicated to God, you were early taught to know 
his will, you have often been entreated, admonish- 
ed, and warned, you have enjoyed the benefits of 
religious example, and have been preserved from 
many temptations to which the children of irreli- 
gious parents are exposed. Now if notwithstand- 
ing all these privileges, you live and die without 
religion, how aggravated will be your guilt! — how 
terrible your condemnation! Yours will be the 
doom of one who knew his Lord's will and did it not, 
and who is therefore deservedly beaten with many 
stripes; and it will be more tolerable for Sodom 
and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for 
you. All this, your parents well know, and they 
are sometimes almost afraid to address you on re- 
ligious subjects, lest all their attempts to effect 
your salvation, should only serve, in consequence 
of your neglecting them, to aggravate your guilt 
and wretchedness. 

In the third place, if you persist in neglecting 
religion, the distress which your parents now feel, 
may be raised to the highest pitch, by seeing you 
die without hope. Then they will feel as David 
felt, and wish like him that they could have died 
for you. Conceive if you can, what his feelings 
were. He probably recollected the joy which was 
occasioned by his son's birth, the delight with 
which the fond parents contemplated his uncommon 
beauty; the pleasure which they felt, when, with 
tottering steps he first ventured to pass from one 
to the other, and which was renewed when he be- 
gan to lisp their names; the deep interest with 
9 



98 



ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE 



which they had watched his progress from infancy 
up to manhood, and the hopes which they had 
often indulged that he would prove a comfort to 
them, in their old age. And now what was the 
end of all these pleasures and hopes? That son, 
the son of his affections, his joys, his hopes, en- 
deared to him by all these tender recollections, 
was dead; and, what was ten thousand times 
worse, had died in his sins. His mangled body 
lay buried under a heap of stones, and his soul — 
O where was his immortal soul ? — what was it 
even then suffering! 

But this reflection was too terrible. As often 
as the agonized father's thoughts attempted to 
follow his son into the world of spirits, they were 
met and driven back by horrors of which he shud- 
dered to think, but which he could not banish from 
his mind. He felt that he should never meet his 
son again, never — never. They were not only 
separated, but separated forever. And O how 
did the father's heart sicken with anguish, while 
these thoughts swiftly passed and repassed through 
his mind! And can any of you think, with calm- 
ness, of wringing your parents' hearts with such 
anguish ? Yet such anguish they would feel, 
should they see you die unprepared. To see you 
die would be a sore trial to them, even though you 
should die the death of the righteous. It would 
be a trial under which they would need strong con- 
solation. But this would be nothing, I may say 
rather, it would be transport, compared with the 
misery of seeing you die the death of the wicked; 
of seeing you, like him, driven away in your wick- 
edness. 

Will you then by continuing to neglect religion, 
prepare for that hour^ the most painful hour which 



PERVERSENESS OF CHILDREN. 



99 



a parent's heart can know, this additional pang ? 
Will you infuse new bitterness into that cup, which 
is of itself sufficiently bitter ? Do you reply, per- 
haps my parents will escape this trial by dying 
before me. True; but should it be so, your neg- 
lect of religion will give additional sharpness to 
their dying pangs. Could they leave you safe in 
the love of a Heavenly Father, they might leave 
you without a tear. But to leave you in such a 
world as this without a protector, to leave you in 
the broad road to destruction, in that road which 
leads directly away from the heaven to which they 
are going; to leave you uncertain whether you will 
ever follow them to glory, — O this will be painful 
indeed. Some present have already occasioned 
this pain to a dying parent. Yes, the last mo- 
ments of that father, that mother, whom you still 
perhaps remember, at times with a sigh or a tear, 
were embittered by the thought that they left you 
without God in the world, and of course without 
hope. And 0 how much more would their last 
moments have been embittered, could they have 
foreseen that their dying counsels, prayers, and 
tears would produce no more effect upon you, 
and be so soon forgotten. Will you not from this 
time begin to cry, God of my parents, forgive me 
that I have neglected thee so long; forgive me 
that I have paid no more regard to the parting 
advice of those whom thou hast taken to thyself. 

But to return to those whose parents are still 
living. You have heard a little, and words can 
tell you but little, of the distress which you occa- 
sion your parents, by neglecting religion. And 
now permit me to ask, will you continue to occa- 
sion them this distress ? Will you expose them 
to the additional anguish of seeing you die, or of 



100 



ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE 



dying and leaving you without hope ? Is this the 
only return which they deserve from you, for ail 
that they have done and suffered for your good ? 
Will you compel them, after they have spent the 
day in laboring for your support, to retire at night, 
sorrowful, and almost broken-hearted, and water 
their pillow with tears ? Are any so hardened as 
to reply, we do not wish our parents thus to dis- 
tress themselves on our account; we see no occa- 
sion for all this anxiety. True, you do not see it, 
and for this very reason they are the more anxious. 
And so long as they love you, they cannot cease 
to be anxious. To wish them not to feel distress- 
ed on your account, is to wish them not to love 
you. Or will any reply, we see nothing in our 
parents' conduct, which leads us to believe that 
we occasion them so much unhappiness. Alas, 
they dare not tell you all their feelings, nor dare 
they speak to you on religious subjects, as often 
as they wish, lest it should disgust and harden 
you. They are aware that you do not love such 
subjects, and that if they are pressed upon you 
too frequently, the effect may be hurtful, rather 
than salutary. Let me then beseech you to lay 
these things seriously to heart, and to rejoice your 
parents, to excite joy in heaven, and to save your 
own souls, by commencing immediately and sin- 
cerely a religious life. In pressing you to do this, 
I seem to myself, to come armed with all the effi- 
cacy of a parent's numberless prayers. And O 
that the God, at whose feet those prayers have 
been poured out, may render these considerations 
efficacious to your salvation, and save your parents 
from the anguish of seeing you die in despair, and 
from pouring forth fruitless wishes over your re- 
mains, that they had been permitted to die in your 
stead. 



PERVERSENESS OF CHILDREN. 101 



II. I proceed now, as was proposed, to press 
the subject upon the attention of pious parents; 
for such parents may learn from it many important 
truths. In the first place, you may learn from it, 
that no parent, whose children are not all pious, 
can be certain that they will ever become so, or 
certain that he shall not be called to weep over 
some of them, wishing that he had died in their 
stead. Perhaps most religious parents, when dis- 
tressed with apprehensions respecting the fate of 
their children, endeavor to quiet these apprehen- 
sions, by hoping that, sooner or later, they will 
become the subjects of conversion. And some- 
times they seem to take it for granted, that this 
will actually be the case. They know that many 
will perish, but none of their children are to be of 
the number. We readily allow, that if parents 
are conscious of doing every thing in their power, 
to promote the salvation of their children; if they 
educate them, watch over them, pray for them, as 
they ought, they may, with propriety hope, though 
they cannot be certain, that they will be convert- 
ed. But perhaps those parents are most ready to 
indulge such hopes, who have the least right to 
entertain them; those I mean, who are most neg- 
ligent of the souls of their children, and whose re- 
ligion is in a declining state. The hopes which 
such parents entertain respecting the future con- 
version of their children, are of precisely the same 
nature, with the hope that every impenitent sinner 
entertains respecting himself. He hopes, though 
he has no reason for such a hope, that if conver- 
sion be necessary, he shall, sometime or other, be 
converted. And so these parents hope that their 
children will be converted, though, like the sinner, 

they neglect their duty. But let such parents 

9# 



102 



ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE 



look'at David, and learn that not only good men, but 
men eminently good, may be called to weep in 
anguish, over a child who has died impenitent. 
And if this is not sufficient to convince them, let 
them look at the children of Eli, who were wicked 
to a proverb; at the sons of Samuel, who walked 
not in his ways, and at the many other instances, 
mentioned in Scripture, of eminently pious parents 
whose children proved most abandoned characters. 
Surely, these instances, as well as daily observa- 
tion, must convince all, that no parent, can be 
certain that he shall not be called to weep as David 
wept. 

From this subject, Christian parents may learn, 
in the second place, the fatal consequences of 
neglecting their duty to their children. David, 
though a great man, was guilty of this neglect. 
It is said of Adonijah, another of his sons, that his 
father had not at any time displeased him, saying, 
why hast thou done so ? and there seems to be 
abundant reason to believe that he indulged his 
other children, in the same injudicious and sinful 
manner. Doubtless he often prayed for them, and 
gave them religious instruction, but he did not re- 
strain and reprove them, as he ought to have done. 
Hence the foul sins which stained his family. 
Hence the conduct and fate of Absalom. While 
he indulged, he ruined him, and prepared bitter- 
ness for himself. See pious Eli, scourged in an 
equally terrible manner for the same fault. His 
sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them 
not, and therefore God says, I will judge his house 
forever, nor shall the iniquity of his house be purg- 
ed, by sacrifice or burnt-offering. Christian par- 
ents, think often of these instances; for they stand 
as a pillar of salt, to warn you not to neglect the 



PERVERSENESS OF CHILDREN. 103 



duty which you owe to your children. Yet as it 
respects many, they seem to stand and warn al- 
most in vain. A neglect of parental duties, or an 
injudicious manner of performing them, are among 
the most prevalent and threatening evils, which 
are to be found among us. There is perhaps no 
evil, which threatens more danger to the cause of 
religion, or to the church of God, and I may add, 
to the prosperity of our country. Unless the hearts 
of children shall be soon turned to their parents, 
and the hearts of parents to their children, God 
will certainly come and smite the land with a 
curse. Do any ask, what is to be done ? I an- 
swer, the root of the evil, I conceive, lies here. 
Christian parents do not pray sufficiently for wis- 
dom and grace, to enable them to perform their 
duty. They pray indeed for these blessings, but 
they do not pray sufficiently. They feel that min- 
isters ought to be men of prayer; but they do not 
consider that to educate a family, is little if any 
less difficult, than to perform the duty of a minister. 
Nay, in some respects, it is perhaps more so; for 
many men have been useful ministers, and yet 
failed greatly as parents. Even David, though he 
has, for centuries, instructed the whole church of 
God, by his writings, failed, you perceive, in this 
respect. Parents, then, who would avoid this 
failure, must not only pray, but pray frequently 
and fervently, for wisdom and grace from on high, 
as well as for a blessing on their endeavors. If 
this is neglected, all the anxiety and distress which 
you may feel for your children, will be vain, and 
you may see them perish. 

Can you bear the thought? Look at those of 
them who are yet infants or in the early part of 
childhood. See how they depend on you, how 



104 



ANGUISH OF PARENTS AT THE 



they cling to yon, in how many engaging, endear- 
ing ways, they twine themselves around your 
hearts. And can you bear to think of their grow- 
ing up to be vicious or abandoned, to fall a prey 
to dissipation, debauchery, and intemperance, to 
live without God, and die without hope, and to 
become fiends hereafter ? In a word, can you 
bear to think of being in David's situation, when 
he heard of Absalom's death ? If not, O awake 
seasonably, and exert yourselves diligently. Be 
assured that you will find it much less difficult and 
painful to perform your duty, than to bear the con- 
sequences of neglecting it. But perhaps religion 
is in a declining state in your own hearts, and 
therefore you have little faith or disposition to 
pray. And is it so ? So you remember, it once 
was with David, He declined, at length he fell 
openly, and his fall was chastised by a declara- 
tion from Jehovah, that the sword should never 
depart from his house. In a similar manner, your 
religious declensions may be punished. You may 
be made to suffer in the persons of your children, 
and to feel that remorse which David felt, when 
in the ruin of his son, he saw the consequence of 
his own folly. Believe me, believe me, Christians, 
or rather, believe God, you cannot sin, you cannot 
become nes;lio;ent in religion- without suffering for 
it; and if the thoughts of your own suffering are 
not sufficient to rouse you, think, O think of your 
children, and be roused. 

I shall conclude with a word to those parents 
who feel no concern for the conversion or for the 
souls of their children. Permit me to ask such 
parents, why they are thus unconcerned? Our 
Saviour was distressed for the Jews and wept 
over them. Paul felt great heaviness, and con- 



PERVERSENESS OF CHILDREN. 105 



tinual sorrow of heart, for his unconverted coun- 
trymen. The Psalmist could say, I beheld the 
transgressors, and was grieved; rivers of waters 
run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy 
law. Yet you do not feel for your own children, 
as they felt even for strangers. And does not 
this prove conclusively, that you do not resemble 
the Saviour, and his disciples, that you have no 
particle of the spirit which glowed in their breasts? 
Yes, if any thing can prove this, if any thing can 
prove that you do not believe the Scriptures, it is 
your indifference respecting the spiritual, eternal 
interests of your children. While you feel thus un- 
concerned respecting their souls, it is evident that 
you cannot have learned the worth of your own, 
nor have taken any measures to secure its salva- 
tion. But surely, if children at any time, or in 
any place, need the counsels, example and pray- 
ers of pious parents, they need them at such a 
time, and in such a town, as this. You see what 
multitudes of children are here growing up. You 
see what courses many of our youth pursue, 
what a pitch of wickedness many of them have 
already reached. Yet you cannot even pray that 
your children may be preserved from such courses, 
and the reason is, you have never learned to pray 
for yourselves. O, then, if you love your own 
souls, or the souls of your children, learn to pray, 
that you may go before them in the path to heaven, 
and perhaps they will follow. 



SERMOjV VI 



THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES OF 
PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 

1 Samuel iii, 13, 14. 

For I have told him, that I will judge hisjiouse 
forever, for the iniquity which he hnoweth: 
because his sons made themselves vile, and he 
restrained them not. And therefore 1 have 
sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity 
of EIVs house shall not be purged with sacri- 
fice nor offering forever. 

These words compose a part of the first revela- 
tion which was made by God to his prophet 
Samuel. This eminent servant of Jehovah was 
directed to begin his ministry by denouncing God's 
judgments against a sin which, it seems, was but 
too common then, as it is now; the sin of neglect- 
ing the moral and religious education of children. 
It was this sin which drew down the most awful 
threatenings upon the house of Eli. Eli was in 
many respects an eminently good man; but, like 



PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS, 101 



many other good men, be was in this particular 
grossly deficient. His sons made themselves vile, 
and he restrained them not. We may be ready 
to think this a small and very pardonable offence; 
but God thought otherwise, and he made Eli to 
know that he did so in a most awful manner. 
Behold the days come, said he, when I will cut 
off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, 
that there shall not be an old man in thine house. 
And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off, 
shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine 
heart; and all the increase of thy house shall die 
in the flower of their age. And as for thy two 
sons, they shall both die in one day. These awful 
threatenings, addressed to Eli, were farther con- 
firmed by the ministry of Samuel. I have told 
Eli, that I will judge his house forever, for the 
iniquity which he knovveth; because his sons made 
themselves vile, and he restrained them not. 
Therefore have I sworn unto the house of Eli, that 
the iniquity of his house shall not be purged with 
sacrifice nor offering forever. 

It may perhaps appear strange to some of you, 
my friends, that we have chosen such a subject as 
this for a day of public fasting and prayer. But 
we are not without hopes that, before we have 
done with the subject, you will be convinced that 
we could not have chosen one more important, nor 
more suitable to the present occasion. We are 
assembled this day for the purpose of humbling 
ourselves before God, for our personal and national 
sins, and praying for private and public prosperity. 
Now I firmly believe, that no sin is more preva- 
lent among us, more provoking to God, or more 
destructive of individual, domestic, and national 
happiness, than that to which we propose to call 



108 



THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 



your attention. Could we trace the public and 
private evils, which infect our otherwise happy- 
country, to their true source, I doubt not we should 
find that most of them proceed from a general neg- 
lect of the moral and religious education of chil- 
dren. And if our civil and religious institutions 
should ever be subverted; and this nation should 
share the fate of many other once flourishing na- 
tions of the earth, our destruction, like that of the 
house of Eli, will have been occasioned by this 
very sin; a sin, which is the parent of innumerable 
other sins, and which, consequently, directly tends 
to draw down upon those nations, among whom it 
prevails, the judgments of offended heaven. Sure- 
ly, then, no subject can be more important, or 
more suited to the purposes for which we are now 
assembled. — In farther discoursing on this subject, 
we propose to consider the sin mentioned in our 
text, the punishments denounced on those who are 
guilty of it, and the reasons why this sin is so pro- 
voking to God, as it evidently is. 

I. We are to consider the sin here mentioned. 
Eli's sons made themselves vile, and he restrained 
them not. It is not said that he set them a bad 
example. It is evident, on the contrary, that his 
example was good. Nor is he accused of neglect- 
ing to admonish them; for we are told that he re- 
proved them in a very solemn and affectionate 
manner, and warned them of the danger of con- 
tinuing to pursue vicious courses. In this respect 
he was much less culpable than many parents at 
the present day; for not a few set before their 
children an example positively bad; and still more 
entirely neglect to admonish and reprove them. 
But though Eli admonished^ he did not restrain 
his children. He did not employ the authority 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 



109 



with which he was clothed, as a parent, to prevent 
them from indulging their depraved inclinations. 
This is the only sin of which he is accused; and yet 
this was sufficient to bring guilt and misery upon 
himself, and entail ruin upon his posterity. 

Of the same sin those parents are now guilty, 
who suffer their children to indulge, without re- 
straint, those sinful propensities to which childhood 
and youth are but too subject; and which, when 
indulged, render them vile in the sight of God. 
Among the practices which thus render children 
vile, are a quarrelsome, malicious disposition, dis- 
regard to truth, excessive indulgence of their ap- 
petites, neglect of the Bible and religious institu- 
tions, profanation of the Sabbath, profane, scurri- 
lous, or indecent language, wilful disobedience, 
associating with openly vicious company, taking 
the property of their neighbors, and idleness which 
naturally leads to every thing bad. From all these 
practices it is in the power of parents to restrain 
their children in a very considerable degree, if 
they employ the proper means; at least, it is in 
the power of all to make the attempt, and to per- 
severe in it so long as children remain under the 
paternal roof ; and those who neglect to do this; 
those who know, or who might know, that their 
children are beginning to practise any of these 
vices, without steadily and perseveringly using all 
proper exertions, to restrain and correct them, are 
guilty of the sin mentioned in our text. Nor will 
a few occasional reproofs and admonitions, given 
to children, free parents from the guilt of partak- 
ing in their sins. No, they must be restrained; 
restrained with a mild and prudent, but firm and 
steady hand; restrained early, while they may be 
formed to habits of submission, obedience, and 
10 



110 THE GUILT AXD CONSEQUENCES 



diligence; and the reins of government must never ; 
for a moment, be slackened, much less given up 
into their hands, as is too often the case. Nor 
will even this excuse those parents who neglect 
family religion, and the religious instruction of 
their children, and who do not frequently pray for 
the blessing of heaven upon their endeavors. If 
we neglect our duty to our heavenlv Father, we 
surely cannot wonder or complain, if he suffers our 
children to neglect their duty to us; nor, if we do 
not ask his blessing, have we any reason to com- 
plain should it be withheld. In this, as in all 
other cases, exertion without prayer, and prayer 
without exertion are equally vain. To sum up all 
in a word, every parent who is not as careful of 
the morals, as he is of the health of his children; 
every one who takes more care of the literary, 
than of the moral and religious education of his 
children, is certainly guilty of the sin mentioned in 
our text. How much more criminal, then, are 
those parents who set before their children an 
irreligious, or vicious example; who join with the 
great enemy of their peace in tempting them to 
sin, and thus, instead of restraining, indarne and 
strengthen their sinful propensities. The parent 
who starves or poisons his children, is innocent 
in the sight of God, compared with one who thus 
entices them into the path of ruin. 

Having thus brierly considered the sin, men- 
tioned in our text, I proceed to notice, 

II. The punishments denounced against those 
who are guilty of it. It will soon appear, that 
these punishments, like most of those with which 
God threatens mankind, are the natural conse- 
quences of the sin against which they are denoun- 
ced. 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. Ill 



In our text these punishments are denounced in 
a general way. I have told Eli, that I will judge 
his house forever, for the iniquity which he know- 
eth. The particular judgments here alluded to ? 
are described more at large in the preceding chap- 
ter, to which this passage evidently refers. God 
there declares to Eli, 

1. That most of his posterity should die early, 
and that none of them should live to see old age. 
The increase of thy house, says he, shall die in 
the flower of their age, and there shall not be an 
old man in thine house forever. Now it is too 
evident to require proof, that the sin, of which Eli 
was guilty, naturally tends to produce the conse- 
quence which is here threatened as a punishment. 
When youth are permitted to make themselves 
vile, without restraint, they almost inevitably fall 
into courses which tend to undermine their constitu- 
tions, and shorten their days. It is indeed a well 
known fact that, in populous towns, comparatively 
few live to become aged, and that a much larger 
proportion of mankind, especially of the male sex 
who are most exposed to the influence of tempta- 
tion, die in the flower or meridian of their days, 
than in the country where parental discipline is 
less generally neglected, and youth are under 
greater restraints. If parents wished that their 
sons should drag out a short life of debility and 
disease, and die before they reach half the com- 
mon age of man, they could not adopt measures 
better calculated to produce this effect, than to 
east loose the reins of parental authority, and suf- 
fer them to follow their own inclinations, and as- 
sociate with vicious companions without restraint. 
We may, therefore, consider the premature death 
of ungoverned children, as the natural consequence 3 



112 THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 

as well as the usual punishment, of parental neg- 
lect. 

2. In the second place, God declares to Eli, 
that such of his- children as were spared should 
prove a grief and vexation, rather than a comfort 
to him. The man of thine, whom I shall not cut 
off, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve 
thine heart. How terribly this threatening was 
fulfilled in the case of Eli, you need not be told. 
Nor was it less terribly fulfilled in the family of 
David. Though he was in many respects an em- 
inently good man, yet with respect to the govern- 
ment of his children he was grossly deficient. We 
are told respecting one of his children, that his 
father had not displeased him at any time, saying, 
Wherefore hast thou done so? We may then 
conclude that he was equally culpable in his treat- 
ment of his other children. And what was the 
consequence? One of his sons committed incest 
with his sister, and was in revenge barbarously 
murdered in cool blood by his brother Absalom. 
This same Absalom afterwards rebelled against 
his father, compelled him to fly for his life, and 
was cut off by a violent death in the flower of his 
age, and in the midst of his sins. A third son re- 
belled against him in his old age, and endeavored 
to wrest the sceptre from his feeble hands. How 
keen were the sufferings which this conduct of his 
children occasioned, we may infer from his bitter 
lamentation on account of the death of Absalom. 
O, my son, my son Absalom! would to God I had 
died for thee, my son, my son! Well therefore 
might it be said of him that his children were to 
consume his eyes, and to grieve his heart. The 
fact is, this part of the threatened punishment, 
like the former, is the natural and almost inevita- 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 113 

ble consequence of the sin, against which it is de- 
nounced. If parents indulge their children in 
infancy and childhood, and do not restrain them 
when they make themselves vile, it is almost im- 
possible that they should not pursue courses and 
contract habits, which will render them as bitter- 
ness to their fathers, and a sorrow of heart to 
those that bore them. If such parents are pious, 
their hearts will probably be grieved, f and their 
eyes consumed with tears, to see their children 
rebelling against God, and plunging into eternal 
ruin. If they are not pious, and care nothing for 
the future happiness of their children, they will 
still probably have the grief of seeing them idle, 
dissolute, undutiful, bad husbands, bad fathers, and 
bad members of society; for it can scarcely be ex- 
pected that he, who is a bad son, will act his part 
well in any other relation of life. Especially will 
such parents usually meet with unkindness and 
neglect from their children, if they live to be de- 
pendant on them in their old age. It is in this, 
as in almost every other instance, the case that, 
as a man sows, so he must reap. They that sow 
the seeds of vice in the minds of their children, or 
who suffer them to be sown by others, and to grow 
without restraint, will almost invariably be com- 
pelled to reap, and to eat with many tears the 
bitter harvest which those seeds tend to produce. 

3. In the third place, God forewarns Eli, that 
his posterity should be poor and contemptible. 
They that despise me, says he, shall be lightly 
esteemed; and it shall come to pass that every 
one that is left in thy house shall come and crouch 
to another for a piece of silver and a morsel of 
bread. Here again we see the natural conse- 
quences of Eli's sin in its punishment. Children, 
10* 



114 THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 

who are not well instructed and restrained by their 
parents, will almost inevitably in such a place as 
this, contract habits of idleness, instability, and 
extravagance, which naturally lead to poverty and 
contempt. Were we well acquainted with the 
private history of those individuals among us, who 
are idle, intemperate, unstable and despised, we 
should probably find that, in almost every instance, 
they were the children of parents who neglected 
to restrain them when they made themselves vile. 

Lastly; God declares that none of the methods 
thus appointed to obtain the pardon of sin, should 
avail to procure pardon for the iniquity of his 
house; I have sworn unto Eli, that the iniquity of 
his house shall not be purged away by sacrifice 
nor offering forever. This awful threatening con- 
veyed a plain intimation that his children should 
die in their sins; and, of course, be miserable for- 
ever. This too was the natural consequence of 
his conduct. He had suffered them to follow with- 
out restraint those courses which rendered them 
unfit for heaven, until their day of grace was past, 
and the door of mercy forever closed against them. 
They were now given up to a hard heart and re- 
probate mind. They could not now be brought to 
repentance; and, of course, no sacrifice or offering 
could purge away their sins. My friends, it is 
still the same, and there can be no room to doubt, 
that there are thousands now in the regions of de- 
spair, and thousands more on their way to join 
them, who will forever curse their parents, as the 
authors of their misery. 

My friends, the terrible punishments denounced 
against this sin sufficiently shew that it is exceed- 
ingly displeasing in the sight of God. Let us then 
inquire as was proposed, 



OP PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 115 



III. Why it is so ? To this we answer, it is so, 
1. Because it proceeds from very wicked and 
hateful principles. Actions take their character 
in the sight of God principally from the motives 
and dispositions in which they originate. Now 
there is scarcely any sin which proceeds from 
worse principles and more hateful dispositions than 
this. For instance, sometimes it proceeds from 
the love and the practice of vice. Openly vicious 
and profligate parents, who do not restrain them- 
selves, cannot, of course, but be ashamed to re- 
strain their children. Such parents, whatever 
their children may do, dare not reprove them, lest 
they should hear them reply, Physician, heal thy- 
self. In other instances, this sin is occasioned by 
secret impiety and infidelity. Those who live 
without God in the world, who think his power of 
no consequence, and feel not the force of those 
motives, which the Scriptures present to us, will 
be disposed to view the sins of their children with 
a favorable eye, and consider them as merely the 
common foibles of youth, which require little cen- 
sure or restraint, and which they will soon re- 
nounce voluntarily. Even if such parents some- 
times restrain the grosser vices of their children, 
they will give them no religious instruction; they 
will never pray for them, for they never pray for 
themselves; and without religious instruction and 
prayer, little or nothing effectual can be done. 
But in religious parents, this sin almost invariably 
proceeds from indolence and selfishness. They 
love their own ease too well to employ that con- 
stant care and exertion, which are necessary to 
restrain their children, and educate them as they 
ought. They cannot bear to correct them, or put 
them to pain; not because they love their children, 



116 



THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 



but because they love themselves, and are unwil- 
ling to endure the pain of inflicting punishment, 
and of seeing their children suffer; though they 
cannot but be sensible, that their happiness requires 
it. There is also much unbelief, much contempt 
of God, and much positive disobedience in this sin. 
Parents are as expressly and as frequently com- 
manded to restrain, to correct, and instruct their 
children, as to perform any other duty whatever. 
Great promises are made to the performance 
of this duty; awful threatenings are denounced 
against the neglect of it. Yet all these motives 
prove ineffectual. The commands are disobeyed, 
the promises and threatenings are disbelieved and 
disregarded, and thus parents honor their children 
more than God, and seek their own ease rather 
than his pleasure, as Eli is said to have done. It 
appears, then, that this sin proceeds from open 
wickedness, which renders parents ashamed to 
restrain their children; or from impiety and infi- 
delity, which causes them to think it needless; or 
from indolence and selfishness, which make them 
unwilling to do it. Now these are some of the 
worst principles of our depraved nature; and 
therefore we need not wonder that a sin, which 
proceeds from such sources, is exceedingly dis- 
pleasing to God. 

2. This sin is exceedingly displeasing to God, 
because, so far as it prevails, it entirely frustrates 
his design in establishing the family state. We 
are taught, that he at first formed one man and 
one woman, and united them in marriage, that he 
might seek a Godly seed. But this important de- 
sign is entirely frustrated by those parents who 
neglect the moral and religious education of their 
children; and therefore God cannot but be greatly 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 117 

displeased with a sin which renders his benevolent 
measures for our happiness unavailing. 

3. God is greatly displeased with this sin on 
account of the good which it prevents, and the in- 
finite evil which it produces. He has taught us, 
that children properly educated will be good and 
happy, both here and hereafter. He has also 
taught us that children, whose education is neg- 
lected, will probably be temporally and eternally 
miserable. At least, it will not be owing to their 
parents, if they are not. He also compels us to 
learn from observation and experience, that innu- 
merable evils and miseries do evidently result from 
this sin; that the happiness of families is destroy- 
ed; that the peace of society is disturbed; that 
the prosperity of nations is subverted, and that 
immortal souls are ruined by its effects. Now the 
anger of God against any sin, is in proportion to 
the evils and the misery which it tends to produce. 
But it is evident that no sin tends to produce more 
evils, or greater misery than this. It is the fruit- 
ful parent of thousands of other sins, and entails 
ruin upon our descendants to the third and fourth 
generation. With no sin, therefore, has God 
more reason to be angry than with this. 

Lastly; this sin is exceedingly displeasing to 
him, because those who are guilty of it break over 
the most powerful restraints, and act a most un- 
natural part. He knew that it would not be safe 
to entrust such creatures as we are with the edu- 
cation of immortal souls, unless we had powerful 
inducements to be faithful to the trust. He, 
therefore, implanted in the hearts of parents a 
strong and tender affection for their offspring, and 
a most ardent desire for their happiness, that they 
might thus be induced to educate them as they 



118 



THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 



ought. But those who neglect to restrain their 
children, do violence to this powerful operative 
principle, and may be said to be like the heathen, 
without natural affection. It is true they may 
have a kind of blind fondness for their offspring 
like that of the irrational animals; but it does not 
at all resemble a virtuous enlightened affection, 
and is altogether unworthy of a rational, and still 
more of a Christian parent; and, therefore, instead 
of prompting them to seek the real happiness of 
their children, it is but too often made an excuse 
for neglecting it. 

Thus, my friends, have we endeavored to de- 
scribe the sin mentioned in our text, with its pun- 
ishment, and the reasons why it is so exceedingly 
displeasing to God. And now let us improve the 
subject. 

1. By inquiring whether the sin does not great- 
ly prevail among ourselves. But, my friends, in- 
quiry is needless. It most evidently does. I am 
inclined to believe that it is the greatest and most 
provoking sin among us. And, my friends, you 
must allow that the speaker has had sufficient op- 
portunity to form something of a correct opinion on 
this subject. He has resided in this place three 
years as an instructer of youth, and almost nine 
years as a preacher of the gospel. In this capa- 
city he has had free access to families of every 
class, in all circumstances, and he has had very 
considerable opportunities of witnessing the man- 
ner in which cnildren are treated; he has felt dis- 
posed to avail himself of these opportunities, and 
he is constrained to declare thus publicly, that he 
has found but comparatively few families in which 
there is not a gross and evident neglect of the 
moral and religious education of children. He 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 119 



has but too often witnessed in his parochial visits 
attempts to restrain children, while he was pre- 
sent; attempts, which were evidently unusual, and 
which were of course unsuccessful, and which only 
proved that the children, and not the parents, 
ruled. But it is needless to mention these cir- 
cumstances. Our streets, and the vicious conduct 
of but too many of our youth are open witnesses 
against many among us, that their sons make 
themselves vile and they restrain them not. You 
well know that it is almost impossible to walk our 
streets, without having the ear wounded by profane 
and indecent expressions from lips which have but 
just learned to speak. You need not be told, at 
least many of you need not, that there are many 
haunts of intemperance and every kind of wicked- 
ness in this town, to which boys resort to learn 
and practice the vices of men; where they soon 
learn to glory in their shame, and to get rid be- 
times of the troublesome restraints and reproaches 
of conscience. You need not be told, that our 
annual days of fasting are, by many of the young, 
considered and treated as days set apart for sinful 
and almost riotous amusement, and that the lan- 
guage of their conduct seems to be, We are de- 
termined to fill up the measure of our national sins ? 
as fast as our parents empty it. In fact, I sus- 
pect that there is more sin committed on our days 
of fasting, than on almost any other day of the 
year. But it is needless to enlarge. My very 
soul sickens to think of the dreadful proofs of 
youthful wickedness and«'profligacy, which I almost 
daily hear or witness. Surely, if it be true, that 
a child trained up in the way he should go will not 
depart from it, but few, very few indeed of the 
rising generation are thus trained. I would not, 



120 THE GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 

however, be understood to mean, that all, or eveo 
a large proportion of the vicious children in this 
town are the children of this society. I do not 
now particularly recollect any one that is so. But, 
my friends, are there not many, even among us, 
who are grossly deficient in this respect, many 
whose sons make themselves vile, many who suffer 
their children to associate with vile companions 
and they restrain them not? Are there not many, 
who have already suffered some of the punishments 
with which the house of Eli was visited? Are 
there none, who have reason to fear that their 
children were cut off by an untimely death, the 
consequence, at least in some degree, of a neglect- 
ed education? Are there none, whose children 
survive only to consume their eyes and grieve their 
hearts by their misconduct, and cause them bitter- 
ly to lament the consequences of their neglect 
now, when it is too late to repair it? It is inde- 
scribably painful to tear open the bleeding wounds 
of such parents, if such there are; but it must be 
done, if it be only to bring them to repentance and 
the enjoyment of pardon. It seems that if any 
sin calls for repentance, this especially does; and 
it becomes all of us, who are parents, to humble 
ourselves before God for our innumerable deficien- 
cies, and to beg that he will not visit our sins upon 
our children. It may perhaps be too late with 
many to reform now. The children have become 
too old to be controlled; they have left the pa- 
ternal roof, and perhaps gone to the world of spir- 
its. The mischief is done and cannot be remedied. 
My friends, if any thing can convince you of the 
need of an atonement, it must be this. Suppose 
a parent, by neglect or by bad example, has ruined 
his children; they die in their sins, and go to the 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 121 

judgment seat. After their death, suppose their 
criminal parent is brought to repentance, what can 
clear him from guilt? what can wash away his 
sin? He has destroyed an immortal soul, the 
soul of his own child; a soul which God committed 
to his care, and of which he will demand an ac- 
count. Now what account can such a parent 
render? What atonement can he make to God 
for destroying one of his creatures? to that God 
who declares that he will require blood for blood, 
life for life, of every one who unlawfully takes 
away the life of a fellow creature? Will his tears, 
his repentance restore the dead to life, or save the 
soul which he has ruined? No; nor would it avail 
should he offer thousands of rams, or ten thousands 
of rivers of oil; for God expressly declared that 
the sin of Eli's house should not be purged with 
offering nor sacrifice forever. What then can take 
away the guilt, and procure the pardon of such a 
parent? Is there any way, or must he perish? 
There is a way. The blood of Christ cleanseth 
from all sin; and surely such a parent needs it 
all, nor could any thing short of this precious 
atoning blood, make satisfaction for this irreparable 
mischief which his neglect has occasioned. If 
then there be any present, who are guilty of this 
sin, any, who fear that by their bad example, or 
their neglect, they have occasioned the ruin of an 
immortal soul, we would point them to Christ for 
relief and pardon. By his blood even those who 
have destroyed others may themselves be saved 
from destruction, if their repentance be sincere; 
for he has declared that all manner of sin and 
blasphemy, not committed against the Holy Ghost, 
shall be forgiven to the penitent. But if any, who 
are guilty of this sin, do not repent and apply to 
11 ' ' 



122 GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES 

the Saviour for pardon, the oath of God stands 
against them, that their iniquity shall not be purg- 
ed forever. My friends, let all who are parents 
think of this, and beware of this ruinous, this ag- 
gravated, this almost unpardonable sin. Chasten 
thy son, says the wise man, while there is yet 
hope, nor let thy soul spare for his crying; for he 
that spareth correction hateth his son, but he that 
loveth him will chasten him betimes. Thou shalt 
scourge him with the rod, and shalt deliver his 
soul from hell. 

2. If there are any children or youth now pre- 
sent, whose parents do not restrain them, and who 
make themselves vile by indulging in vicious or 
sinful practices, they may learn from this subject, 
what will be their fate, unless repentance prevent. 
Children and youth, I am now speaking to you. 
You are deeply interested in this subject. Re- 
member the character and the fate of Eli's sons. 
They made themselves vile, and God slew them. 
Remember that a quarrelsome temper, disobedi- 
ence to parents, idleness, neglect of the Sabbath, 
and the Bible, profane and indecent language, 
falsehood, and every kind of vicious indulgence, 
render you vile in the sight of God, and are the 
high road to poverty and contempt in this world, 
and everlasting wretchedness in the next. Re- 
member too that, if your parents do not forbid, and 
punish you for these sins, that will not excuse you 
in the sight of God. Eli did not restrain his sons, 
and yet God destroyed them. But if any of you, 
who have religious parents, pursue such courses in 
defiance of their admonitions, your doom will be 
still worse. There is no more certain forerunner 
of ruin in this world and the next, than habitual 
disregard to the counsels and warnings of such 



OF PARENTAL UNFAITHFULNESS. 123 



parents. We are told that Eli's sons hearkened 
not to their father, because the Lord would slay 
them; and if any children present refuse to obey 
their parents, it gives reason to fear that God 
intends, in like manner, to destroy them. * * 



SERfflMM! VH. 



THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS VIS- 
ITED UPON THEIR CHILDREN. 

Exodus xxxiv, 7. 

Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upo7ithe chil- 
dren, and upon the children's children, unto the 
third and fourth generation. 

In this passage we have a part of the name of 
Jehovah, as proclaimed by himself. In the pre- 
ceding- chapter, we find Moses praying for a man- 
ifestation of those attributes, in which the divine 
glory essentially consists. I beseech thee, said 
he, shew me thy glory. This request God an- 
swered by saying, I will make all my goodness to 
pass before thee; and will proclaim before thee, 
the name of the Lord. This promise he fulfilled. 
The Lord, says the inspired penman, descended in 
a cloud, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaim- 
ed, Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gra- 
cious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness 



INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS. 

&nd truth; keeping mercy for thousands; forgiving 
iniquity, transgression and sin; and by no means 
clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fa- 
thers upon the children, and upon the children's 
children, unto the third and fourth generation. 
On hearing this adorable name, thus proclaimed, 
Moses made haste, and bowed his head, and 
worshipped; thus expressing his cordial acquies- 
cence in all that God had revealed respecting his 
character, and the maxims of his government. 
Every one who possesses the temper of Moses, will 
feel disposed, on hearing this name, to follow his 
example. But it is more than probable, that all 
present, do not possess his temper; and that some, 
on hearing that part of God's name, which has 
been read as our text, will rather feel disposed to 
ask, how can it be just, how can it be made to 
appear consistent with our ideas of perfect recti- 
tude, for God to visit the iniquity of men upon their 
posterity; or, as the expression evidently means, 
to punish children, and children's children, for the 
sins of their parents: To answer these questions, 
by stating the true import of the passage, and 
shewing that the method of proceeding which it 
describes, is perfectly just, is my design in the 
present discourse. 

With this view, I remark, 

1. That this passage has no reference whatso- 
ever, to God's treatment of mankind, in a future 
state. It does not mean that God will punish 
children in a future state, for the sins of their pa- 
rents; but the visitation, or punishment which it 
threatens, is exclusively temporal. This is evi- 
dent from a passage in the eighteenth chapter of 
Ezekiel, when God, speaking of the death to 
which his law dooms transgressors, says, The soul 



126 



INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS 



that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear 
the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father 
bear the iniquity of the son. In another passage, 
he says, The fathers shall not die for the children, 
neither shall the children die for the fathers; but 
every man shall die for his own sin. The same 
truth is clearly taught in the many passages which 
assure us, that, at the judgment day, God will re- 
ward every man according to his works. Not, 
you will observe, according to the works" of his 
parents, but according to his own works; nor is the 
smallest intimation to be found in the Bible, that, 
in dispensing eternal rewards and punishments, 
God will pay any regard to the conduct of a man's 
ancestors, whatever it may have been. I remark, 
2. That God never visits children even with 
temporal judgments for the sins of their parents, 
unless they imitate, and thus justify their parents' 
offences. This, he himself declares, in the most 
positive and unequivocal manner. The impious 
Jews, while suffering the just punishment of their 
own offences, made use of this proverb; The 
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's 
teeth are set on edge; that is, our fathers have 
sinned, and we, their children are punished for it. 
They thus justified themselves, by insinuating that 
the calamities which they suffered, were not the 
consequence of their own conduct, and at the same 
time, accused God of injustice. The ways of the 
Lord, said they, are not equal, or equitable. For 
this impious and groundless complaint, God severe- 
ly reproves them, declares that they shall no more 
use this proverb, and shews, in the clearest man- 
ner, that they had no cause to use it. He assures 
these murmurers that, if a wicked man has a son 
who seeth all his father's sins, and considereth, 



UPON THEIR CHILDREN. 



127 



and doeth them not, but executeth God's judg- 
ments, and walketh in his statutes, he shall not 
die for the iniquity of his father, but shall surely 
live. With this assurance, the divine conduct, as 
described in the Old Testament, corresponds. 
Hezekiah, Josiah, and many other pious men, 
were the children of exceedingly wicked parents; 
but as they shunned the sins of their fathers, and 
were supremely devoted to God, they enjoyed his 
favor in a very high degree, and were visited with 
no marks of displeasure, on account of their pro- 
genitors. 

There is, however, one apparent exception to 
these remarks, which must be noticed. It is evi- 
dent from facts, that even pious children, often 
suffer in consequence of the wicked conduct of their 
parents. If a father be idle, or extravagant; if 
he squander his property by gaming, or intemper- 
ance, or destroy his reputation by scandalous 
crimes, or ruin his constitution by sensual indul- 
gences; his children, and perhaps his children's 
children, may suffer in consequence; nor will any 
degree of piety alwap-skkld them from such suf- 
ferings. Those sufferings ought not, however, to 
be considered as punishments inflicted by God; 
but merely as the natural consequences of their 
parents' misconduct; and even these consequences, 
though painful, will be overruled for their benefit; 
for all things work together for good to them that 
love God. It must however be added, that the 
sinful example and conduct of wicked parents has 
a most powerful tendency to prevent their children 
from becoming pious, to induce them to pursue 
vicious courses, and thus to bring upon them di- 
vine judgments. Such parents seldom, if ever, 
give their children good advice, or a religious ed- 



128 INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS 



ucation, but suffer them to grow up, almost with- 
out restraint, with a bad example in its most in- 
fluential form, ever before their eyes. Hence 
wickedness often descends in families, from gener- 
ation to generation, becoming more deep and in- 
veterate as it descends, till long delayed vengeance 
overtakes the guilty race, and blots their very 
name from the earth. I remark, 

3. That our text describes God's method of 
proceeding with nations, and civil or ecclesiastical 
communities, rather than with individuals. I do 
not say that it has no reference to individuals, but 
that it refers principally to nations, states and 
churches. It seems designed to teach us, that 
God often visits one generation with national 
judgments, on account of the sins of preceding 
generations; or in other words, that in punishing 
a nation, at one period of its existence, he has re- 
spect to sins of which it had been guilty during 
former periods. For instance, when he doomed 
the Canaanites to destruction, he had respect not 
only to the sins of that generation which was de- 
stroyed, but to all the sins of which the nation had 
been guilty, from the commencement of its political 
existence. This is evident from his informing 
Abraham, that the Canaanites could not be im- 
mediately destroyed, because their iniquity was 
not then full; but that after four generations 
should have passed away, their measure would be 
full, and their destruction would be effected. In 
a similar manner he dealt with the Amalekites. 
That nation made a cruel, treacherous, and un- 
provoked assault, upon the Israelites, in the wil- 
derness. God then declared that he would punish 
the nation of Amalek for that offence; but the 
punishment was deferred for some hundreds of 



UPON THEIR CHILDREN. 



129 



years, and was then inflicted with awful severity; 
and the destruction of the Amalekites which then 
took place, was expressly stated to be on account 
of the sin committed so many years before, by a 
preceding generation. 

By similar maxims God was governed, in his 
dealings with the Jews. The Babylonish captivi- 
ty was designed as a punishment, not only for the 
sins of that generation, which was actually carried 
away, but for the sins of the preceding generation. 
And so the present dispersion of the Jews, with 
all the calamities which, for eighteen hundred 
years, have overwhelmed that devoted people, is a 
continued expression of the divine displeasure, 
against the sin of which their fathers were guilty, 
in crucifying the Son of God, of whom they said, 
His blood be on us and on our children. Our Sa- 
viour himself said to that generation, by whom he 
was crucified, Fill ye up the measure of your fa- 
thers, that upon you may come all the righteous 
blood, shed from the foundation of the world; from 
the blood of righteous Abel, to the blood of Zach- 
arias whom ye slew between the temple and the 
altar. That we may perceive the justice, wisdom 
and propriety of the method of proceeding, it is 
necessary to consider the following things. 

It is indispensably necessary to the perfection 
of God's moral government, that it should extend 
to nations and communities, as well as to individ- 
uals. This, I conceive, is too evident to require 
proof ; for how could God be considered as the 
moral governor of the world, if nations and com- 
munities were exempt from his government. Again, 
if God is to exercise a moral government, over na- 
tions and communities, by rewarding or punishing 
them according to their works, the rewards and 



130 



INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS 



punishments must evidently be dispensed, in this 
world; for nations and communities will not exist, 
as such, in the world to come. In that world, 
God must deal with men, considered simply as in- 
dividuals. Further, it seems evidently proper, 
that communities as well as individuals, should 
have a time of trial and probation allowed them; 
that if the first generation prove sinful, the com- 
munity should not be immediately destroyed, but 
that the punishment should be suspended, till it be 
seen whether the nation will prove incorrigible, or 
whether some succeeding generation will not re- 
pent of the national sins, and thus avert na- 
tional judgments. Now it is evident, that if God 
thus waits upon nations, as he does upon individu- 
als, and allows them a season of probation, a space 
for repentance, he cannot destroy them, until many 
generations of sinners are laid in their graves. 
Besides, by thus suspending the rod, or the sword 
over a nation, he presents to it powerful induce- 
ments to reform. He appeals to parental feel- 
ings, to men's affection for their posterity; and 
endeavors to deter them from sin, by the assurance 
that their posterity will suffer for it. In connec- 
tion with these remarks, we must recollect what 
has been already stated, that God never punishes 
a generation for the sins of its ancestors, unless it 
imitates their conduct, unless it is guilty of similar, 
or more aggravated offences, and thus justifies the 
wicked conduct of preceding generations. Be- 
sides, as sinful nations, like individuals, if they do 
not reform, usually become worse, it will ever be 
found that the last days of a nation, are its worst 
days, and that the generation which is destroyed, 
is more abandoned than all preceding generations. 
I will only add, that when God forsakes or de- 



UPON THEIR CHILDREN. 



131 



stroys a nation, for its national sins, he does not 
inflict more upon that generation which is destroy- 
ed, than its own sins deserve, though he punishes 
them more severely than he would have done, 
were it not for the guilt which has been accumu- 
lated by the generations which have preceded it. 
From these statements and considerations, I con- 
ceive that not only the justice, but the wisdom and 
propriety of the divine proceedings, must appear 
evident to every calm and unprejudiced mind. If 
doubts respecting it still remain, permit me to at- 
tempt their removal, by the following statement. 

Suppose that from the commencement of our 
existence as a nation, some other nation had with- 
out provocation treated us in the most hostile and 
injurious manner, interrupting our commerce, mur- 
dering our fellow-citizens, and finally, forcibly 
seizing, and unjustly retaining a part of our terri- 
tory. Suppose the generation, by whom these 
acts of hostility were committed, to be all laid in 
their graves, and a new generation to succeed, 
who, instead of making any reparation for the in- 
juries we had sustained from their fathers, should 
repeat the same injuries, and retain the territory, 
which they had unjustly acquired: Should we not 
feel that we had just cause of complaint against 
this new generation; that they were, in effect, ac- 
cessaries in the crimes of their fathers, and de- 
serving of the punishment due to those crimes? 
And supposing war, in any case, to be just, should 
we not feel it just to make war upon that nation, 
at any succeeding period of its existence, so long 
as its offences were repeated, and the territory 
which it had unjustly acquired was retained? My 
hearers, God's visiting the iniquities of the fathers 
upon the children, implies no more than is involved 



132 



INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS 



in this supposition. Who then will deny his 
method of proceeding to be just? 

My hearers, the subject we have been consider- 
ing, would, at any time, be interesting and in- 
structive, but there is something in our present 
situation, which renders it, at this time, peculiarly 
so. As a community, we are just entering on a 
new mode of political existence. We are now 
separated from our parent State, and have no fur- 
ther concern in its sins or its virtues, except what 
results from our connection with it, as a member 
of the Union. But though we have no other con- 
cern with the sins of which it may hereafter be 
guilty, it is evident from our subject that we are 
still deeply interested in the sinfulness and guilt 
contracted by that State, during the period of our 
political connection with it. In that sinfulness we 
shared; in accumulating that guilt we assisted, 
and should God visit our parent State for its sins, 
we must expect to share in the visitation, unless 
previous repentance and reform prevent. Had the 
State, at the period of our separation, been burd- 
ened with a debt, which it was unable to discharge, 
we must have been charged with our proportion of 
it; and the same remark will apply to the debt 
which is due to divine justice. It becomes us then 
to look back and inquire, of what sins the State 
was guilty during our connection with it. With 
respect to the primitive fathers, or first settlers of 
the State, it was intimated in the morning, that 
they were, in a very uncommon degree, devoted to 
God. No other nation can boast of such ances- 
tors, to no other nation has so small a share of 
guilt been transmitted by its founders. But it is 
too evident to require proof, that our immediate 
ancestors, have sunk very far below the standard 



UPON THEIR CHILDREN. 



133 



of their forefathers. The progress of those vices 
which principally tend to draw down divine judg- 
ments, upon a people, has been constant, rapid, and 
highly alarming. Dissipation, intemperance, pro- 
fanation of the Sabbath, neglect of divine institutions 
and profane language, have burst in upon us like an 
overwhelming flood. The prevalence of perjury, 
or false swearing, is, if possible, still more alarm- 
ing. To say nothing of the little regard paid, in 
many cases, to oaths of office, how terribly have 
our commercial transactions, for some years, been 
polluted by this crime! Of what palpable perju- 
ries have great numbers of our fellow-citizens been 
guilty, both at home and in foreign lands; and 
how largely have those who employed them, parti- 
cipated in the guilt! We may think little of this, 
and flatter ourselves that customary oaths are 
trifles; but be assured, my hearers, that when 
God is, on any occasion, called to bear witness to 
a transaction, he witnesses it; and woe be to the 
wretch, who calls upon the God of truth to bear 
witness to a lie. God will not hold him guiltless 
who taketh his name in vain; nor will he hold a 
nation or community guiltless, in which this sin 
prevails. Even you, my hearers, would think it 
the greatest of insults, should a man impudently 
call upon you to testify to the truth of a known 
lie. With what feelings, then, must the God of 
truth hear himself so frequently called upon to bear 
such testimony ? 

But to return from what is, perhaps, a digres- 
sion; — if these and other sins have grossly pre- 
vailed, in our parent State, and in this part of it, 
during the period of our political union, then, unless 
we repent of these sins; and much more, if we 
persist in them, we may be certain that God will, 
12 



134 INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS 



sooner or later, visit upon us the iniquity of our 
fathers. We shall commence our separate exist- 
ence with our measure of iniquity partly filled, and 
our own sins will soon fill it to the brim. 

In the second place, this subject will teach us, 
not only to reflect upon the past, but to look for- 
ward to the future. If God, in his dealings with 
civil communities, visits the sins of parents upon 
their children, then he will visit our sins upon our 
children. We shall suffer for them in the world 
to come, and they will suffer for them in this world. 
We often speak of acting for our posterity, of 
providing for their happiness; but in no way can 
we promote their happiness so effectually, as by 
abstaining from sin; in no way can we do more to 
destroy it, than by continuing in sin. We profess 
to have been actuated, partly at least, if not prin- 
cipally, by a concern for their interest, in seeking 
the separation which has taken place. But what 
will it avail for them to be a separate State, if 
we indirectly separate them from the favor and 
blessing of heaven? What will it avail, to be- 
queath to them our civil and religious privileges, 
if the bequest, in consequence of our sins, is ac- 
companied with heaven's curse? A measure of 
iniquity nearly full, is a terrible inheritance to be- 
queath to posterity. Yet such an inheritance we 
shall certainly transmit to them, unless a more 
general reformation, than there seems any reason 
to expect, should prevent. May God have mercy 
upon our posterity, for I fear we shall have none. 

In the third place, this subject may be interest- 
ing and instructive to many of us, not only as 
members of the community to which we belong, 
but as individuals. Are there any present, who 
are descended from a long line of irreligious an- 



UPON THEIR CHILDREN. 



135 



cestors; who can scarcely find, among their pro- 
genitors, one devoted servant of God? Surely, 
such have reason to tremble, lest a curse should 
be entailed upon a race, which has been so long 
estranged from God. Are there any whose imme- 
diate ancestors have lived without God, in the 
world? Let such remember, that if they would not 
be visited for the sins of their fathers, they must 
forsake their fathers' sinful ways. Are there any, 
who, while their parents remain strangers to God, 
have been led to know and serve him themselves? 
What reason have such to bless and adore the 
sovereign mercy, which, instead of leaving them 
under the load of derived and personal guilt, has 
visited them with salvation. Are there parents 
present, who know not God? It surely becomes 
them to lay this subject seriously to heart, lest 
they should treasure up wrath for their descend- 
ants. Let me entreat such parents to reflect, 
how soothing, how delightful it must be to be able, 
in their expiring moments, to bequeath to their 
children, and their children's children, the blessing 
of a pious father; to be able, with dying Jacob to 
say, The God of my fathers, the God who has fed 
me all my life long, the Angel who redeemed me 
from all evil, bless my children, and be their God. 
Surely, if there be a delightful spectacle on earth, 
it is that of a dying father, who after having guid- 
ed his children in the way of peace, by his princi- 
ples and example, expires while the blessing which 
he bequeaths to them, trembles on his lips. On 
the other hand, what sight can be more dreadful 
than that of a dying sinner, — his own gloomy 
prospect rendered ten-fold more dismal, by the 
reflection, that his own children are involved, for 
time, perhaps for eternity, in the consequences of 
his transgressions. 



SERMON VIII. 



AN EARLY INTEREST IN GOD'S MER- 
CY ESSENTIAL TO A HAPPY LIFE. 

Psalm xc, 14. 

0 satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may 
rejoice and be glad all our days. 

My hearers, should all the youth in this assem- 
bly express sincerely their secret wishes and in- 
clinations, it can scarcely be doubted, that many 
of them would say something like this; I should 
wish to live a long life, to be allowed to spend it 
in worldly pleasures and pursuits, and then, just 
before its termination, to be converted, and pre- 
pared for death. Such, indeed, it is evident, must 
be the wishes of every person, who, while he is 
convinced that religion is necessary, does not love 
it; for while he does not love religion, while he 
regards a religious life as a life of unhappiness, he 
will, of course, wish to defer the commencement of 
such a life, as long as he can, consistently with 
bis own safety. My youthful hearers, am I wrong 



god's mercy essential. 137 



in supposing that such are your wishes ? Am I 
wrong in supposing, that if it were submitted to 
your choice, whether your conversion should take 
place now, or at the close of life, many, if not most 
of you, would choose the latter? If such would be 
your choice, your feelings evidently differ widely 
from those by which the pious writer of our text 
was actuated. He exclaims, O satisfy us early 
with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad 
all our days. 

By the mercy of God is here evidently intended, 
his pardoning mercy. But God's pardoning mercy 
is extended, as the psalmist well knew, to none 
but the penitent, but those who have really com- 
menced a religious life. And he knew that none 
can obtain such manifestations of this mercy as will 
satisfy them, except those who pursue a religious 
course with zeal and diligence. When he said, 
O satisfy us early with thy mercy, he. did, there- 
fore, in effect say, Incline us early to enter on a 
religious course of life, and to pursue it with such 
zeal and diligence, as shall afford us satisfactory 
evidence, that we are indeed the children of God, 
partakers of his mercy, and heirs of his salvation. 
The psalmist then, it appears, thought it highly 
desirable, that men should seek and obtain God's 
mercy; or, in other words, commence a religious 
course, in early life, — as early as possible. The 
reason which he assigns for the opinion is particu- 
larly worthy of remark. 0 satisfy us early with 
thy mercy; why? that we may be happy hereaf- 
ter? No; but that we may live happily here; 
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 
This language evidently and forcibly intimates, 
that if the young early seek and obtains God's 
pardoning mercy, the way will be prepared for 
12* 



138 



god's mercy essential 



them to rejoice and be glad all their days. And 
it intimates with equal clearness, that, if they do 
not early seek and obtain mercy, joy and gladness 
cannot attend them. Or, to express the same 
sentiments in different language, he who in early 
youth commences and diligently pursues, a religious 
course, will be happy through life; but he who 
does not, at that period, commence a religious life, 
will not live happily, even though he should sub- 
sequently become religious. That these intima- 
tions are perfectly accordant with truth; that 
every man who wishes to rejoice and be glad all 
his days, must early seek and obtain God's par- 
doning mercy, it is my present design to shew. 
With this view I remark, 

1. That a man may live happily, that he may 
rejoice and be glad all his days, it is necessary 
that he should be early freed from all fears of 
death. That a man who is subject to such fears, 
who regards with dread an event which is con- 
stantly approaching, to which he is every moment 
exposed, and from which it is impossible to escape, 
cannot be happy, it is needless |o prove. But 
every man who has not sought and obtained God's 
pardoning mercy is, in a greater or less degree, 
subject to such fears. Nor is this any proof of 
weakness. It is perfectly reasonable that he should 
entertain such fears, that he should regard death 
as an evil greatly to be dreaded; for, to such a 
man, it must be the greatest of all evils, since it 
will separate him forever from every thing which 
he values or loves. And the more prosperous he 
is, the more his honors, friends and possessions 
increase, the more reason he has to fear an event 
which will strip him of them all. 6 O death, ex- 
claims an apocryphal writer, how terrible are the 



TO A HAPPY LIFE. 



139 



thoughts of thee to a man who is at ease in his 
possessions.' Indeed, could we look into the 
hearts of men, we should probably find that nothing 
so much embitters life to them, as apprehensions 
of death. And how is a sinner, who has no inter- 
est in God's mercy, to free himself from such ap- 
prehensions? Will it be said, he may refuse to 
think of death? I answer, he cannot always ban- 
ish this subject from his thoughts in a world like 
this, where so many things occur which are suited 
to remind him of it. Scarcely a day passes in 
which he does not meet with something which 
forces upon him a conviction, that he is mortal; 
that he is constantly approaching the grave, and 
liable every moment to fall into it. But from this 
cause of unhappiness the man, who early obtains 
satisfactory evidence that he is a subject of God's 
pardoning mercy, is entirely free. The Saviour 
on whom he relies came on purpose to deliver 
those, who, through fear of death, were all their 
life time subject to bondage. This deliverance he 
grants to all who have obtained mercy of the 
Lord, and enables them triumphantly to exclaim, 
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is 
thy victory? Thanks be to God, who giveth me 
the victory, through Jesus Christ my Redeemer. 
And O, what a cause of unhappiness, what an 
oppressive load is removed from a man's mind, 
when he can adopt this language, when he ceases 
to regard death as an evil to be dreaded! 

2. That a man may rejoice and be glad all his 
days, it is necessary that he should be freed in 
early life from a guilty conscience, and from ap- 
prehensions of God's displeasure. That a man 
whose conscience troubles him cannot be happy, 
no one who has a conscience need be informed. 



140 god's mercy essential 



And that apprehensions of God's displeasure and 
of its terrible consequences, must render men un- 
happy, is equally obvious. The man who cannot 
be happy when alone, whose own thoughts are un- 
pleasant companions, who cannot look into his own 
breast without uneasiness, nor up to heaven with- 
out terror, nor toward the eternal world without 
apprehension, must surely be very far from de- 
serving to be regarded as a happy man. If he 
ever enjoy any thing like happiness, it can be then 
only when he forgets that he is an immortal be- 
ing, and that there is a God to whom he is ac- 
countable. But these things no unpardoned sinner 
can always forget. The recollection of them will 
return at intervals to disturb his peace; and if he 
has received much religious instruction, it will re- 
turn often. The understanding and conscience of 
such a man cannot but be at war with the temper 
which he indulges, and with the course which he 
pursues. And even when they are not actually 
reproaching him, and when no distinct apprehen- 
sions of an offended God, of judgment and eternity 
press upon his mind, he often feels that indescrib- 
able uneasiness, restlessness and dissatisfaction, 
which are the almost inseparable attendants of all 
who are not at peace with God. Agreeably, 
we read that the wicked are like the troubled 
sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire 
and dirt; that they travail with pain all their days; 
that a dreadful sound is in their ears, that they 
believe not that they shall return out of darkness 
But from these causes of unhappiness the man who 
is early satisfied with God's pardoning mercy, is 
free. He knows the blessedness of the man whose 
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sin is covered, 
He enjoys peace of conscience and peace with 



TO A HAPPY LIFEo 



141 



God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He knows 
that heaven regards with an approving eye the 
course which he pursues; that God is his friend, 
heaven his destined home, and everlasting glory 
and felicity his reward. Hence he can be happy 
in solitude; nay, in solitude his happiest hours are 
spent. He is not obliged to rush into company 
for the sake of escaping from his own thoughts. 
He is not obliged to walk with his face bent down- 
ward to the earth, lest he should catch a glimpse 
of that glorious sun which shines in heaven, and 
its brightness should pain his eye. No; he can 
look up to that sun, not only without pain, but 
with delight; for he rejoices with joy unspeakable, 
while contemplating its unsullied and unfading 
glories. Nor is he obliged carefully to confine his 
thoughts within the narrow circle around him, lest 
they should wander into the eternal world, and 
bring back cause of alarm. On the contrary, he 
sends them forward, with pleasure to visit that 
world; he fixes on it the eye of delighted contem- 
plation, and anticipates the hour when he shall be 
permitted to enter it, for he regards it as the place 
where the objects of his supreme affections reside, 
and where his happiness is to be rendered perfect 
and complete. In a word, all those invisible and 
eternal realities, every thought which gives pain 
to the guilty, unpardoned sinner, are to him 
sources of happiness. And at the same time, he 
derives more pleasure from temporal blessings than 
they ever afford the sinner, because he tastes the 
goodness of God in them, and because his enjoy- 
ment of them is less embittered by fears that they 
will be taken away. Surely then the man who 
wishes to enjoy life, to rejoice and be glad all his 
days, should seek to be satisfied early with God's 
mercy. 



142 god's mercy essential 



3. To render a man happy during the whole 
progress of life, it is necessary that he should be 
early freed from care and anxiety, and especially 
from apprehensions of losing what he most loves. 
A feeling of safety, of security, is indispensably 
necessary to our happiness. But it is impossible 
that an unpardoned sinner should feel perfectly 
safe, or that he should be free from care, anxiety, 
and apprehension. He has no almighty friend, no 
father in heaven, on whom he can cast the burden 
of his cares. He cannot conceal from himself the 
fact, that he is every moment liable to lose all the 
objects which he values and loves, and he knows, 
that at death, if not before, he must be separated 
from them all. In fine, his treasure is laid up on 
earth, his habitation is built upon the ice, his 
friends are like himself all frail, dying creatures; 
and he has nothing which he can with propriety 
call his own; nothing on which he can lay his 
hand and say, this object at least is safe. How 
then can he be free from anxiety and apprehen- 
sion, and how while subject to these can he be 
happy? But from this cause of unhappiness the 
man who early obtains satisfactory evidence that 
he is interested in God's pardoning mercy is free. 
His treasure, his portion, his chief good, is laid 
up, not on earth but in heaven, and he knows that 
it is safe, that it cannot be lost. Nor has he any 
reason to be anxious respecting his temporal con- 
cerns, or his lot in life; for he knows that his por- 
tion is allotted, and all his concerns managed by 
unerring^ vfrisdom and goodness; that all things 
shall work together for his good, and that it is his 
privilege and his duty to be careful for nothing, 
but to cast all his cares on that heavenly Father 
who careth for him. Hence he can say, The 



TO A HAPPY LIFE. 



143 



Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I 
fear? the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom 
shall I be afraid? Although the figtree should not 
blossom, nor fruit be in the vine; the labor of the 
olive should fail and the fields should yield no 
meat; the flocks should be cut off from the fold, 
and there be no herd in the stall; yet I will joy 
in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my sal- 
vation. Nay, though the earth should be removed, 
and the mountains be carried into the midst of the 
sea, though the waves thereof should roar and be 
troubled, and the mountain shake with the swelling 
thereof, yet the Lord of hosts is with me, the God 
of Jacob is my refuge. 

4. That a man may rejoice and be glad all his 
days, he must early learn, in whatsoever state he 
is, therewith to be content. A discontented man 
is, of course, an unhappy man. But it is impossi- 
ble that an unconverted sinner should be otherwise 
than discontented. To exhort him to be content- 
ed is the most idle thing imaginable. As well 
might we exhort a thirsty man not to feel thirst, 
while nothing is given him to satisfy it. The 
reason is obvious. While the soul is empty it 
cannot but feel uneasy, dissatisfied, discontented. 
But so long as it is without God, the only fountain 
of living waters, the only being who can fill the 
soul, it must be empty. It will crave something, 
and pine after something, which it cannot find. 
The situation of a man without God, as it re- 
spects happiness, is like that of a man without the 
sun, as it respects light. The latter may sur- 
round himself with lamps, and thus provide a sup- 
ply of artificial light; but his lamps will often burn 
dimly, and will sometimes be extinguished; and 
even while they burn most brightly, their pale^ 



144 



god's mercy essential 



sickly light will afford but a poor substitute for the 
pure, reviving, all-disclosing radiance of the sun; 
a substitute with which the eye could not long be 
satisfied. Just so a man, who is without God in 
the world, may surround himself with friends and 
earthly possessions, and make the comfort which 
they afford a substitute for the consolation of God ? 
and the enjoyment of his presence. But it is, at 
best, a miserable substitute, a substitute with 
which the soul cannot be contented. But far dif- 
ferent is the situation of one who is satisfied early 
with God's mercy. What the sinner seeks in 
vain, he has found. The light which sheds its 
radiance on his path, is furnished, not by lamps^ 
but by the sun, a sun which never sets. The 
water which quenches his spirit flows, not from 
broken cisterns, but from the inexhaustible foun- 
tain of living waters. Of this water, our Saviour 
says, he that drinketh of it shall never thirst, but 
it shall be in him a well of water springing up to 
everlasting life. Such a man has then the sources 
of contentment in his own bosom. He carries 
them with him wherever he goes; and when we 
recollect that, in addition to this, he has been fa- 
vored by the mercy of God with a submissive tem- 
per, we need not be surprised to hear that he soon 
learns in whatsoever state he is, therewith to be 
content. 

Finally. That a man may rejoice and be glad 
all his days, it is absolutely necessary that he 
should early obtain the mastery of his appetites 
and passions, and be secured against the evils 
into which they would lead him. What these 
evils are, it is scarcely necessary to say, since 
they prevail but too extensively among us. Look 
around, and you will see on every side young men, 



TO A HAPPY LIFE, 



145 



whom appetites and passions are plunging into in- 
temperance, sensuality, and every species of vicious 
excess, and thus ruining them not only for the 
future, but for the present world. You see them 
forming habits, whose chains it will be exceeding- 
ly difficult for them to break, and which, unless 
broken, will drag them away to destruction. And 
no young man can have any security that he shall 
not be left to form such habits, unless he obtains 
that security which is afforded by God's sanctify- 
ing grace and pardoning mercy; unless he early 
commits himself to that great and good Shepherd, 
who has engaged to preserve all his sheep. Until 
this is done, he is at the mercy of every gust of 
temptation, every sudden sally of appetite and 
passion. It is in vain that, in his sober moments., 
he resolves not to yield to temptation. How little 
such resolutions, how little any human restraints 
avail to secure him, melancholy observation but 
too clearly shows. How many promising young 
men have we seen who, while they remained under 
the parental roof, were moral, correct, and ap- 
parently fortified against temptation; but when 
they were removed from it, fell an easy prey to 
temptation, and sunk into the arms of vicious in- 
dulgence! And how many have we seen who, 
after passing safely through the dangerous period 
of youth, became the wretched victims of intem- 
perance in manhood. Presume not then, young 
man, upon thine own strength. Where so many 
others have fallen, thou mayest fall. Against 
such a fall thou canst have no security, until thou 
obtainest the protection of God. Let him hold 
thee up, and then, and then only, wilt thou be safe. 
This safety is enjoyed by all who are satisfied 
early with his mercy. They are taught and as- 
13 



146 



god's mercy essential 



sisted by his grace to crucify their affections and 
lusts, to keep under appetite and passion and bring 
them into subjection. They have a powerful Sa- 
viour, a prevalent intercessor to pray for them, 
that their faith may not fail; they are within the 
protection of his encircling arm, and have often 
reason to say to him, When my foot slipped, thy 
mercy, O Lord, held me up. In a word, though 
they may possibly be left occasionally to fall into 
some particular sins, for their humiliation and chas- 
tisement, they are infallibly secured against the 
formation of any vicious habits, for the power and 
truth of God are pledged, that no sin shall have 
dominion over them. On their perseverance in a 
virtuous course, their friends may, therefore, safely 
rely; and it may be confidently expected that, in 
domestic and social life, they will be happy, and 
rejoice and be glad all their days. 

Here we might conclude our remark; but there 
is one more view, and to Christians a very inter- 
esting view, of the subject which it is necessary to 
take. It is necessary to inquire, how far the 
happiness of the Christian, after his conversion 
may be affected by the period when his conversion 
took place. In other words, will a man, who is 
satisfied early with God's mercy probably enjoy 
more uninterrupted religious happiness after his 
conversion, than a man who does not obtain mercy 
until a later period of life. It can scarcely, I 
conceive, be doubted that he will. A man who 
does not become religious, till the season of youth 
is passed away, must, of course, spend all the 
early part of life in sin. And what will be the 
consequence? He will commit many sins, there- 
collection of which must be painful to him as long 
as he lives; he will lose much time and many pre- 



TO A HAPPY LIFE. 



147 



cious opportunities of improvement, and of doing 
good, which he will afterwards regret; he will af- 
ford his sinful propensities an opportunity to be- 
come strong; and it will, of course, be more diffi- 
cult to subdue them, and his future conflicts will be 
more severe. His imagination will be polluted, and 
his affections entangled by sinful objects, and the 
consequences will trouble him as long as he lives. 

He will, probably, in some degree, at least, be 
a tempter of others, and the recollection of this, 
will be bitter as wormwood and gall. He can 
never have the satisfaction of reflecting, that he 
gave God his first and earliest and best affections; 
that when the world was all fresh and gay and 
smiling around him, he cheerfully forsook all to 
follow Christ. On the contrary, it must pain him 
to reflect, that he did not forsake the world, till 
he had proved its emptiness; that he did not fol- 
low Christ, until experience taught him that there 
was nothing else worth following. We may add, 
that the man who is not converted until a late 
period, will more than probably, indulge in vices, 
or form habits, which will cause him much unhap- 
piness through life. Nay more, it will not be at 
all strange, should he injure his health and under- 
mine his constitution, and have nothing left to 
offer to God, but a diseased body, and an en- 
feebled mind. We find Job exclaiming, Thou 
writest bitter things against me, and makest me 
to possess the sins of my youth, that is, to feel 
their bitter consequences. David also prays, that 
God would not remember against him the sins of 
his youth; an intimation that he either suffered, or 
feared, some evil on account of them. But all the 
evils which have now been enumerated are avoid- 
ed by the man who commences a religious life in 



148 



god's mercy essential 



early youth. He is guilty of no vicious indulgen - 
ces, he forms no bad habits, his affections are less 
entangled, and his imagination less polluted, and 
his future life will not be embittered by the recol- 
lection that he has tempted others to sin; that he 
has irrecoverably lost his best opportunities for 
improvement; or that he has injured his health or 
his reputation by the practice of vice. As he en- 
ters the narrow path early, he will probably make 
great progress in holiness, lay up much treasure in 
heaven, and be rich in good works. And he, and 
he alone, can say in his old age, O Lord, thou 
hast been my hope from my youth; now, when I 
am old and gray headed, forsake me not. Is it 
not, then, most evident, that he who enters on a 
religious course in early life, will enjoy more hap- 
piness than one who commences such a course at 
a later period ? And is it not equally evident that, 
if a man would be glad and rejoice all his days, 
he should become religious in early youth? An 
application of the subject to several different 
classes in this assembly, will conclude the dis- 
course. 

1. Let me apply it to those among the young, 
who are deferring the commencement of a religious 
life, because they suppose a late conversion to be 
more favorable to happiness. From the remarks 
which have been made, you may learn, my young 
friends, that you are laboring under a great mis- 
take; that by delaying to seek and obtain mercy 
of the Lord, you are not only losing much present 
happiness, but exposing yourselves to many evils 
and taking the most effectual way to render your 
whole future lives less happy. If you wish to re- 
joice and be glad all your days, you must, believe 
me, you must, commence a religious life without 



TO A HAPPY LIFE. 



149 



delay. If a man intended to cultivate a field, 
would it not be unwise to defer the commencement 
of his labors until the proper seed time had passed 
away? If a man intended to become a scholar, 
would it not be unwise to spend his childhood and 
youth in idleness? Equally unwise is it for you to 
defer the commencement of a religious life till the 
season of youth is passed. It would be thus un- 
wise, even could you be sure of being converted at 
any future period. But you cannot be sure of this. 
On the contrary, experience and observation com- 
bine with the Scriptures to teach us, that those 
who do not become religious in early life, will very 
probably never become religious at all. O, then, 
if you mean ever to hear God's voice, hear it to 
day, and do not by delay harden your hearts. 

2. Are there any in this assembly who were 
converted and satisfied with God's mercy in early 
life? If so, they may learn from this subject what 
cause they have for gratitude and joy. They who 
obtain mercy at any period of life have unspeaka- 
ble cause for thankfulness. But none have so 
much reason for thankfulness as they who obtain 
it early. They can scarcely conceive how many 
evils and dangers and sufferings they have escaped 
by an early conversion. Let them then show their 
gratitude by improving diligently the long space 
which is afforded them to become rich in good 
works, and make more than ordinary advances in 
religion. And let them consider how disgraceful 
it will be, if after spending a long life in the school 
of Christ, they should at last be found babes in 
knowledge and happiness. 

3. From this subject those Christians who did 
not seek and obtain mercy in early life, may learn 
that they will have no reason to wonder or com- 

13* 



150 



A HAPPY LIFE, 



plain if they should continue to feel, as long as 
they live, some of the evil consequences of their 
early neglect of religion, and of their youthful fol- 
lies and sins. There are some evils of this kind 
which religion does not remove, and which it can- 
not be expected she should remove. Should a 
young man, while engaged in some vicious pursuit, 
lose a limb or an eye, and afterwards become re- 
ligious, could it be expected that religion would 
restore the limb or the eye which he had lost? or 
would it be reasonable for him to complain on this 
account? And if a man wastes his childhood and 
youth in sin, and afterwards becomes a Christian, 
can he justly complain, though he should still suffer 
for his folly, though his sinful propensities and 
habits should give him more than ordinary trouble; 
or though he should make less progress and enjoy 
less happiness than he otherwise would? Cer- 
tainly not. Let him ascribe all his sufferings to 
their true cause, let him trace them up to his early 
sins, and let him submissively say, The Lord ex- 
acts of me less than my iniquities deserve. I will 
bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have 
sinned against him. 



SERMON IX. 



SIN AVOIDED BY CONSIDERATIONS 
OF GOD. 

Genesis xxxix, 9. 
How can I — sin against God? 

This, my hearers, is the genuine language of a 
pious heart. It ought to be the language of every 
heart. To every tempter, to every temptation, 
our invariable reply should be, How can I sin 
against God! To persuade you to make this re- 
ply, whenever you are tempted to sin, is my pres- 
ent design. And perhaps I cannot prosecute this 
design more effectually, than by attempting to 
shew you what is implied in the language which 
we wish you to adopt. This therefore I propose 
to do. 

The meaning, the force of this language lies 
almost entirely in the word, God. And O how 
many reasons, why we should not sin against him, 
are wrapped up in this one word! Could we, my 
hearers, make you see the full import of this word; 



152 



SIN AVOIDED BY 



could we pour upon your minds the overwhelming 
flood of meaning which it contains, you would feel, 
that no additional motives were necessary, to de- 
ter you from sinning against him whose name it is. 
But this we cannot do. Could we take this one 
word for our theme, and expatiate upon it through 
eternity, we should be able to tell you but a part, 
a small part, of its meaning. All we can do is, 
to tell you something of what it means, in the 
mind, in the mouth, of a pious man. Suppose such 
a man placed before you. Suppose you see him 
assailed and urged to sin, by every temptation to 
which human nature can be exposed. Suppose 
that, on the one hand, the world holds up all her 
pleasures, riches, and honors, and says to him, 
All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt con- 
sent to sin. And suppose that, on the other hand, 
she places before him poverty, imprisonment, con- 
tempt, torture, and death, and says, To all these 
evils I doom thee, if thou refuse to sin. Then 
hear him reply, How can I sin against God? and 
listen while he tells you what he means by this 
language. Notice his expressions; weigh well the 
reasons which he assigns, and see whether he does 
not act wisely, whether he does not constrain you 
to justify his conduct in refusing to yield to tempt- 
ation and sin against God. And if you feel, as 
we proceed, that he completely justifies himself in 
the eye of reason, that he speaks and acts wisely, 
then make his language and his conduct your own. 

1. God, you may understand the good man as 
saying, is a Being of perfect, of infinite, excel- 
lence. His works, as well as his word, assure 
me that he is so. They assure me that from him 
comes every good and perfect gift; that he is the 
Father of lights, the source of all tbe intellectual 



CONSIDERATIONS OF GOD. 



153 



and moral excellence, which is possessed by crea- 
tures, whether in heaven, or on earth. Now 
there must be more in the fountain, than there is 
in all the streams which proceed from it. There 
must be more excellence in the Creator, than in 
all the creatures which he has formed. How then 
can 1 sin against him? There are many of my 
fellow creatures, who possess much intellectual 
and moral excellence, and whom I should there- 
fore be unwilling to offend. And ought I not, then, 
I appeal to you whether I ought not, to be far 
more unwilling to offend him, who is the source of all 
excellence? who is excellence itself ? Do you ask 
me to be more particular? I reply, God is holy, 
He is the thrice Holy One; he cannot look on 
sin, but with the deepest abhorrence. How then 
can I sin against him? How can I insult his 
spotless purity, by polluting myself with sin, when 
the light of his holiness shines around me ? God 
is good, infinitely good, he is goodness itself. 
And O, how can I sin against goodness, infinite 
goodness? God is just, and his justice binds him 
to punish sin. He is Almighty, and his power 
enables him to punish it. I am unable to resist 
him, if I wished to do it. How can I, how dare 
I, then, offend him, and provoke his justice to em- 
ploy his power in destroying me? God is every 
where present, and knows all things. How then 
can I sin against him? How can I pollute by 
my sins a place which is made sacred, which is 
rendered holy ground, by his presence? God is 
infinitely wise. In his wisdom he counsels me not 
to sin; and how can I disregard the counsels of 
infinite wisdom? God is true; he is truth itself ;' 
he has told me that misery is the consequence of 
sin, and how can I disbelieve eternal truth? God 



154 



SIN AVOIDED BT 



is merciful and gracious. He has mercifully offer- 
ed to forgive all my transgressions, great and num- 
berless as they are. How can I then, if there is 
one spark of gratitude or ingenuousness in my 
heart, ever consent to offend him again ? God is 
condescending. He has graciously condescended 
to feel and express an interest in my welfare, and 
in that of my fellow worms. And how can I then 
abuse his condescension? In fine, when I see 
that every thing glorious, excellent; and lovely is 
summed up in the character of one Being, how 
can I sin against that Being? 

% God is my Creator. He is the former of 
my body, the Father of my spirit. As such he is 
my nearest relative. How then can I sin against 
him? Look at this body. He contrived it. He 
formed every particle of it. He gave me these 
limbs, these senses. How then can I employ 
them in offending him? Consider my soul. He 
breathed it into me. He endowed it with all the 
faculties which it possesses. And. can I suffer 
them to sin against him who gave them? Shall 
the thing formed rise up against him who formed it? 
I am not my own, I am the property of him who 
made me. Every thing which I possess is his. 
And how can I disregard his rights? How can I 
be so foolish, so ungrateful, so impious, as to sin 
against a Father; against such a Father, against 
him but for whom I had never existed? You 
would not justify me in offending an earthly parent. 
You would justly censure me, you would consider 
me as an unnatural wretch, should I plant thorns 
in the breast of a kind father, an affectionate 
mother. And ought you not much more to con- 
demn me, — ought I not to abhor myself, should I 
offend and grieve my Father in heaven? 



CONSIDERATIONS OF GOD. 



155 



3. God is my Preserver and Benefactor. He 
lias watched over me and preserved me, every 
moment since my existence commenced. He has 
shielded me from ten thousand evils and dangers. 
He has preserved me, while multitudes of my 
coevals have perished. He is preserving me at 
this moment. How can I then, while in the very 
act of experiencing his preserving goodness, re- 
quite him with disobedience? And while he has 
been my constant preserver, he has in numberless 
other ways acted as my benefactor. All the hap- 
piness which I ever tasted, he imparted. All the 
blessings which I ever enjoyed, he gave. Each 
of them bore this inscription, The gift of God. 
The food which has nourished me, the garments 
which have clothed me, the habitation which has 
sheltered me, the relatives and friends whose kind- 
ness has cheered my existence; all come from him. 
And even now, it is his light which shines around 
me; it is his air which I breathe; the earth on 
which I stand is his; even now my hands are filled 
with blessings which he has bestowed. How then 
can I raise them against him? How can I re- 
quite with ingratitude this kind, constant, unweari- 
ed benefactor! 

4. God is my rightful Sovereign. As my 
Creator and Proprietor, he has the best of all pos- 
sible titles to control me. He, who gave and who 
preserves my existence, has surely a right to pre- 
scribe the manner in which I shall spend it. He 
who gave me my limbs and faculties has surely a 
right to say what I shall do with them. And he 
has exercised this right. He has enacted laws 
for the regulation of my conduct. These laws he 
has made known to me. And they forbid me to 
sin. They forbid this particular sin, which I am 



156 



SIN AVOIDED BY 



now urged to com m it. And I see not bow I can 
escape from the obligations which I am under to 
obey them. I see not how I can escape from the 
government of God, or cease to be his rightful 
subject. And while I am one of his subjects, I 
see not how I can disobey him, or sin against him ? 
without becoming a rebel and a traitor, and thus 
exposing myself to his just displeasure. And how 
can I do this? How can I consent to become a 
rebel against the King of kings, the Sovereign of 
the universe? How can I dare brave the dis- 
pleasure of omnipotence, of one who governs all 
things by the word of his power? And why should 
I wish to do it? All his commands are holy and 
just and good. They require nothing of me which 
does not tend to secure my best interests, my 
everlasting happiness. They forbid nothing which 
would not debase and injure me. Why, then ? 
should I transgress, how can I transgress, such a 
law as this, when in doing it I sin against the 
greatest and best of sovereigns? 

5. God is the providential, as well as moral 
Governor of the universe, and the sole Dispenser 
of all blessings, natural and spiritual. As such 
I am constantly dependant on him for every thing 
which I need. I am in his hands; as he has 
given, so he can take away, all that I possess. 
He has only to speak the word, and all blessings 
forsake me, all evils come upon me; nor can all 
creatures united continue to me one blessing, which 
he sees fit to take away, or avert one evil which 
he commissions to assail me. How can I, then, 
unless I become a madman, consent to forfeit his 
favor and incur his displeasure, by sinning against 
him? Especially how can I do this, when I know 
that he is the Judge, as well as the Governor of 



CONSIDERATIONS OF GOD. 



157 



the universe, and that, as such, he will summon 
me to his bar, and pronounce upon me a sentence, 
which will render me happy or miserable forever! 
I know he has power to execute this sentence. I 
know that he has power to destroy both soul and 
body in hell. And dare I, can I, then, offend 
him? Can I barter heaven for the temptation 
which now urges me to sin? Can I take the price 
of sin in my arms, and for the sake of it plunge 
into hell? Can all the rewards which you offer 
compensate me for the heaven, which I shall lose 
by sin? Are all the tortures, with which you 
threaten me, to be compared with those miseries, 
into which I shall sink myself by sin? You will 
not assert this. I cannot then, — O, no, no, — I 
cannot consent to sin against God. Ask me to 
do any thing else, however difficult or painful, and 
I will, if possible, comply; but ask me not to sin 
against God; ask me not to destroy body and soul 
forever, for this I cannot, cannot do. 

6. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
As such he so loved our ruined race, that he gave 
his only begotten Son to die for its salvation. He 
gave him to die for me, for my relatives, for my 
fellow creatures. He gave him to die for us, 
when we were sinners, rebels, enemies; gave him, 
that we might be saved from the consequences of 
our own follies and vices. Through his crucified 
Son, he has offered me pardon and peace and 
everlasting life, on the easy terms of renouncing 
my sins, and believing in him. Nay more, he has 
besought me to accept of salvation on these terms, 
and to be reconciled to himself. He has shewn 
himself willing to receive and welcome me no less 
kindly, than the father in the parable received 
ami welcomed his returning prodigal son. And 
14 



158 



SIN AVOIDED BY 



the Saviour, by consenting to die for us, has evinc- 
ed love and condescension equally wonderful. He 
has done and suffered more for us than any earth- 
ly friend would or could have done. Now if I 
consent to sin, I shall crucify afresh this Saviour; 
I shall dishonor and offend and grieve the Father 
who gave him to die for me. And how can I do 
this? How can I requite him evil for good? 
Tell me, ye who urge me to sin, how can I so far 
divest myself of gratitude, of ingenuousness, of all 
sensibility to kindness, as to be guilty of such con- 
duct? Tell how I can ever justify myself, how I can 
ever prove that I am not a base ungrateful wretch, 
if I should consent to sin against my God and Re- 
deemer, after they have done all this. But you 
cannot tell me. You can furnish me with no apol- 
ogy, with no shadow of an excuse for such ingrati- 
tude. Tempt me not then to be guilty of it, for I 
cannot, no, I cannot, sin against the God and Fa- 
ther of my Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all grace 
and mercy. I cannot grieve and crucify afresh that 
Saviour who has voluntarily expired for me on the 
cross. 

Thus, my hearers, have I endeavored to 
show you something of what a good man means 
when he says, How can I sin against God; 
and stated some of the considerations which 
he may urge as reasons why he cannot consent to 
sin against him. And now let me ask, Are not 
these reasons more than sufficient to justify him in 
refusing to sin, however strongly he may be urg- 
ed to it? Is there any thing in his language which 
indicates weakness, or superstition, or enthusiasm? 
Rather, does it not approve itself to the under- 
standing and conscience of every person present, 
as being perfectly reasonable? Would you not 
censure and condemn him, should he consent to sin 



CONSIDERATIONS OP GOD. 



159 



against God, when considerations so numerous and 
so powerful forbid it? If so, you must, would you 
be consistent, condemn yourselves whenever you 
sin; for, my hearers, every consideration which 
the good man has now been represented as urging 
to prove that he ought not to sin against God, 
may be urged with equal force to prove, that you 
ought not sin against him. If the good man ought 
to adopt such language, then each of you ought to 
adopt it. If it is wise and proper that he should 
form such a determination; then, for the same 
reason, it is wise and proper that you should form 
it. And now to come to the great object of this 
discourse, let me ask, will you not adopt it? We 
set before your God, the infinite, everlasting God; 
a being absolutely perfect, in whom all possible 
excellence is concentrated and condensed; a being 
who is your Creator, your Preserver, your Bene- 
factor, your rightful Sovereign, your Judge; a be- 
ing who has so loved you, that he spared not his 
own Son; but delivered him up for us all, and 
whose offers of grace and mercy are continually 
sounding in your ears. This Being we set before 
you and say, How can you sin against him? And 
what we wish of you is, that each of your hearts 
should echo, How can I sin against God ? 

Let me then repeat the question, Is this, shall 
it henceforth be, the language of your hearts? 
Perhaps some may reply, It is, it shall be their 
language. We will no more sin against God. 
If we ever sin, it shall only be against our fellow 
creatures, or against ourselves, not against him. 
But, my friends, all sin is against God. Though 
in some forms it may be more immediately against 
ourselves, or our fellow creatures, yet in every 
form it is ultimately against him. It is against 



160 



SIN AVOIDED BY 



his law, his authority, his government, his glory. 
It strikes at him directly in all these respect's, 
To say that we will no more consent to sin against 
God is equivalent to saying. We will no more con- 
sent to sin at all. And saying this implies re- 
pentance; for the same views which lead a man 
to say, How can I sin against God? will lead him 
to repent of having already sinned against him. 
Besides, God's first command is, Repent. To 
disobey this command is, therefore, a sin. Of 
course, he who says, How can I sin against God? 
will say, How can I defer repentance a single 
hour? All the considerations which ought to have 
prevented him from sinning against God, will now 
operate to make him repent of his sins. He will 
say, Against this infinitely perfect Being, against 
infinite wisdom and power and holiness and justice 
and goodness and mercy and truth, I have sinned. 
Against my Creator, and Preserver and Benefac- 
tor, I have sinned. Against my Sovereign and 
Judge, against the mighty Monarch of the uni- 
verse, against the God and Father of my Lord 
Jesus Christ, against my adorable crucified Sa- 
viour, I have sinned. And O, how could I do 
this! What cruel ingratitude, what impious folly 
and madness, possessed me? I abhor myself and 
repent in dust and ashes. And he who says this, 
will also believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
will see that unbelief is one of the greatest sins 
which can be committed against God; that it calls 
in question all his perfections, and represents him 
as wholly unworthy of confidence. How then, he 
will ask, can 1 any longer persist in it? Besides, 
he will see that he needs such a Saviour as Jesus 
Christ, to save him from the consequences of sins 
which he has already committed against God, and 



CONSIDERATIONS OP GOD. 



161 



from those sinful propensities which urge him to 
sin afresh. This will operate as an additional 
0 reason why he should believe without delay. Hav- 
ing exercised repentance and faith in Christ, he 
will proceed to exhibit the effects of both, by de- 
nying himself, crucifying his sinful propensities, 
and replying to every temptation; How can I sin 
against God ? 

And now, my hearers, if any of you mean to 
adopt the language of our text, you will soon have 
occasion to make use of it. As soon as you leave 
this house, and through the remainder of the week, 
you will be assailed by temptations from within and 
from without, to sin against God. Those of you, 
who have hitherto neglected religion, will be tempt- 
ed to neglect it a little longer. And those of you, 
who have professedly embraced it, will be tempted 
to act in a manner inconsistent with your pro- 
fession. The situation of both classes will be this. 
On one side, a thousand little tempters of various 
kinds will be whispering, Do consent to sin 
against God. Sin against him at least in this one 
thing. It will be a trifling offence, and you can 
repent of it afterwards, and be forgiven. On the 
other side, God will stand in all his infinite per- 
fections, in all his endearing relations, and with 
the tenderness of a father, with the authority of a 
master, with the majesty of a universal monarch, 
will say, Yield not to these temptations; sin not 
against me. Then you will be called to weigh the 
rights, the claims of Jehovah against the plead- 
ings of temptation. Then you must either adopt, 
or reject, the language of our text. Now then, 
while temptation is at a distance, while the voice 
of passion is silent, while reason and conscience 
can speak and be heard, determine which you will 
14* 



162 



SIN AVOIDED BY 



do. To assist in forming a right determination, 
consider how frequently, how greatly you have 
already sinned against God. How often, when 
temptation urged you, and God forbade you to sin, 
have you yielded to the former, and disobeyed the 
latter. Are not those instances already sufficient- 
ly numerous? Are they not too numerous? Are 
you not ready to wish that, when tempted to sin, 
you had always replied, How can I sin against 
God? Do you feel nothing like sorrow, nothing 
like relenting, when you reflect how often you have 
sinned against all that is perfect in character, 
against all that is endearing in relation, against 
all that is sacred in authority, against all that is 
touching in kindness? Can you contemplate God 
impartially and say, I think I have treated him 
as well as he deserves to be treated. He has no 
reason to complain of the manner in which I have 
treated him. I have paid all that I owe him. I 
have loved him and feared him, and obeyed and 
thanked him, as much as he has any right to ex- 
pect? If you cannot say this; if you feel that you 
have not treated your God, your Creator, your 
Benefactor, your Redeemer, as he deserves, can 
you refrain from lamenting it? Is there nothing 
in your breast which makes you wish to fall at his 
feet and say, Lord I have not treated thee as 
thou art worthy to be treated. I have sinned, I 
have committed iniquity. I have done foolishly. 
O, forgive me, for thy Son's sake forgive me, and 
let me offend thee no more. If any thing within 
urges you to do this, O yield to it; for it is the 
Spirit of God urging you to repentance. If you 
feel any disposition to do it, indulge that disposi- 
tion; for it may prove the commencement of re- 
pentance. And if you repent of past sins, you will 



CONSIDERATIONS OP GOD. 163 



feel disposed and enabled to say, with new reso- 
lution, How can I any more sin against God? for 
you will then come under the influence of new mo- 
tives, and will see new reasons why you should 
guard against sin; for as soon as you become a 
penitent sinner, you will be a pardoned sinner; 
you will taste and see that the Lord is good; you 
will know something of the love of Christ which 
passeth knowledge; and that love will constrain 
you to live, not unto yourselves, but to him who died 
for you and rose again. Then you will say, How 
can I, a redeemed sinner, a pardoned sinner, 
whom Christ has bought with his own blood, 
who have by a most wonderful display of divine 
grace and mercy, been saved from the lowest 
hell, — how can I any more sin against my deliv- 
erer? I am become a member of Christ. How 
can I crucify my head! God has adopted me as 
a child: How can I sin against my Father in 
heaven? The Spirit of God has taken up his 
residence in my heart: How can I grieve him and 
provoke him to forsake me? Such are some of 
the new motives under whose influence you will 
come, if you now yield to him who urges you to 
repent. O then yield to the gentle inward moni- 
tor which, I would fain hope, is now whispering 
repentance. Give way to those better feelings 
which are beginning to rise within you; and under 
their influence fall at the feet of your much injured 
and long offended, but still gracious God. Let me, 
I beseech you, let me see peace restored between 
you and him before you leave this house. Come 
with me to his mercy seat and say, Other lords, 
0 God, have had dominion over us; but they shall 
rule us no more. We have sinned, greatly sinned 



164 CONSIDERATIONS OF GOD. 



against thee; but we would sin no more. 0 hold 
us back from sin; turn us from all our iniquities; 
help us to say from the heart, we will be thy peo- 
ple; and say thou to us, I will be your God. 



SERMON X. 



SOLOMON'S CHOICE. 

1 Kings iii, 10. 

And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon 
had asked this thing. 

In the context we are informed that, soon after 
Solomon's coronation, the Lord appeared to him 
by night, and said, Ask what I shall give thee. 
And Solomon said, O Lord my God, thou hast 
made thy servant king instead of David my father, 
and I am but a little child; I know not how to go 
out or come in; and thy servant is in the midst of 
a great people that cannot be numbered for multi- 
tude. Give thy servant, therefore, a wise and 
understanding heart, to judge thy people, that I 
may discern between good and bad; for who is 
able to judge so great a people? And the speech 
pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this 
thing. And God said unto him, because thou hast 
asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself 
long life, nor riches, nor the lives of thine enemies, 



166 



SOLOMOJTS CHOICE, 



but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern 
judgment; behold I have done according to thy 
word; I have given thee a wise and understand- 
ing heart, so that there shall be none like unto 
thee. And I have also given thee that which thou 
hast not asked, both riches and honor; so that 
there shall not be any among the kings like unto 
thee all thy days. 

My friends, though our situation differs in many 
respects from that of Solomon, yet from this pas- 
sage we may learn many interesting and impor- 
tant truths. We may learn from it, indeed, al- 
most every thing that is necessary to render us 
prosperous and happy, both with respect to this 
world and to that which is to come. To illustrate 
and enforce some of the principal truths which it 
teaches, is our present design. 

L The address which God made to Solomon 
when he said, Ask what I shall give thee, he does 
in effect make to each of us, especially to the 
young. It is true, the age of visions and revela- 
tions is past; God does not now speak to us with 
an audible voice, nor is it necessary that he should. 
The revelation which he has given us in his word, 
renders it needless. But the language in which 
he addresses us in his word is precisely similar to 
that in which he spoke to Solomon. By erecting 
a throne of grace in heaven, opening the way to 
it, inviting us to come to him with our requests, 
and promising to grant our petitions when they 
are agreeable to his will, he does in effect say to 
each of us, Ask what I shall gire thee. I have 
set before thee the blessing and the curse, the 
way of life and the way of death. On the one 
hand, I set before thee Christ and holiness and 
everlasting life; on the other, sin and the world 



Solomon's choice. 



167 



and eternal death. Choose then which thou wilt 
have. Wilt thou have the pleasures of sin, or the 
pleasures of religion? Wilt thou have treasures 
on earth, or treasures in heaven. Wilt thou have 
the praise of men or the praise of God? Wilt 
thou have Christ, or wilt thou have the world? 
To these questions of his Creator every man by 
his conduct returns a direct, unequivocal answer. 
If he pursues religion as the one thing needful, he 
practically replies, Lord, I choose religion; I 
choose thee for my portion, and Christ for my Sa- 
viour, and heaven for my rest. Give me but these, 
and I am satisfied. If, on the contrary, he de- 
votes himself supremely to sinful or worldly pur- 
suits, he no less directly replies, Lord I choose 
the world. I choose its pleasures as my happi- 
ness, its riches as my portion, its applause as my 
honor. Give me them and I ask nothing more. 
I shall not trouble myself as to the consequences 
of this choice hereafter. Let me but be happy in 
this world. Others, if they please, may have the 
other world to themselves. 

II. Though we are not, like Solomon, kings; 
and therefore need not, as he did, qualifications 
requisite for that office; yet we all need spiritual 
wisdom and understanding, and may therefore all 
imitate his example in making our choice. For 
instance, the young may do this. Every one may 
say, Lord thou hast given me an immortal soul, a 
soul which thou hast made, and for the loss of 
which thou hast taught me, that the gain of the 
whole world would be no compensation. But I 
know not what to do with it. I know not how to 
keep it, nor where it will be safe, but am in dan- 
ger of losing it continually. I find myself in the 
midst of a sinful seducing world, exposed to innu- 



168 



Solomon's choice. 



merable snares and temptations, surrounded by 
artful and insidious enemies who often assume the 
garb of friends, with many paths opening before 
me, each of which appears to be the path to hap- 
piness. I am told that in this world scarcely any 
object appears in its true colors; but that good is 
often put for evil, and evil for good, darkness for 
light, and light for darkness. I am also told, and 
I begin already to find with truth, that I have a 
most deceitful heart, ever watching to betray me; 
that my understanding is blinded by sin, that I 
am inclined to evil, not to good; that my appetites 
and passions will unceasingly strive to lead me 
astray. Already have they begun to do it; already 
have I been guilty of many errors and mistakes. 
I fear that I shall be guilty of more. O then, thou 
Father of spirits, thou Father of lights, give me, 
I beseech thee, a wise and understanding heart, 
that I may discern between good and evil, and 
have strength to avoid the one and pursue the 
other. O condescend to be my shepherd, the 
guide of my youth; lead me in the way that is 
everlasting. 

Every parent, also, has reason to adopt the 
prayer of Solomon. Every one, who sustains this 
relation, may say, Lord, in addition to my own 
soul, thou hast confided to my care the souls of 
my children, with an injunction to educate them 
for thee, and teach them the good and the right 
way. But we have no wisdom nor skill, nor 
strength to do this. Our children have derived 
from us a corrupt nature which we know not how 
to subdue. They are exposed to the influence of 
bad examples, and many other evils, against which 
we know not how to guard them. Even we our- 
selves shall set before them a bad example, unless 



Solomon's choice. 



169 



thy grace prevent. We are in danger of ruining 
them by too much indulgence, on the one hand, or 
too much strictness and severity on the other. 
When we look around us we find but few, even 
among the wise and good, who succeed in educa- 
ting their children aright; how then can we hope 
to succeed, we who are like little children our- 
selves, and need every moment to be taught, and 
guided, and upheld by thee. Give us then, O our 
heavenly Father, give us a wise and understanding 
heart, that we may know how to perform this 
great duty, and be preserved from the guilt of 
ruining the immortal souls committed to our care 3 
and compelling thee to require their blood at our 
hands. Again, 

Professors of religion have reason to imitate 
the example of Solomon. By admitting us into 
thy church, O Lord, they may say, thou hast in a 
measure committed to our care the honor of thy 
religion, the success of thy cause. If we display 
a wrong spirit, or conduct in a sinful or imprudent 
manner, thy religion will be despised, and thy 
great name blasphemed by many around us; we 
shall be as stumbling blocks in the path of life to 
occasion the destruction of our fellow creatures, 
perhaps of our nearest friends. This, O Lord, 
we are in continual danger of doing. We are 
exposed to dangers from within and from without, 
on the right hand and on the left. While we 
avoid one extreme, we are in danger of running 
into another. When we aim to recommend reli- 
gion by cheerfulness, we are in danger of falling 
into levity and vain conversation, and when we 
endeavor to avoid levity, we are liable to prejudice 
our friends against religion by gloominess and 
melancholy. Against these and innumerable other 
15 



170 



Solomon's choice. 



dangers, to which we are exposed, we have do 
skill or wis ore: t: guard. We kaow neither how 
to go out cor l:w t:» come in, Give thy servants 
therefore. 0 L:rd, a wise and understanding 
heart, that vre raay ad:rn tay reli^ioD. and honor 
thy great name. Give as taat wisdom which is 
from above, winch is pure, peaceable, foil of good 
limits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 
Maize as wnat ta:u recoirest us t: oe, wise as ser- 

have abundant cause :: ::av frecueutiv f:r a wise 



As a a enc aura a~e meat for a.'. ::• d: this. I observe. 

UL That God is pleased with those who make 
the choice and sincerely offer op the prayer of 
Solomon. Our teat informs as taat God was 
pleased with a s c:ad.;ct :a this occasion, aaa siace 



•cause it is the enect of his grace. We 
taat the L:::; r e - : : c e s in a is works, aad 
sod does he rejoice in them; for they are 
good. If he rejoices in them he must, of 
oe pleased with taem. But t: induce per- 
aoakr tae choice aad :aer up the prayer of 
. is always his work, tar enect of his 
It is :ae'of taose oooua aad perfect gifts 
:me c;-a form the Father of lights; for 
who is not taught and influenced by the 
"God, will erer make this choice or sin- 



Solomon's choice. 



171 



to an impenitent sinner, Ask what I shall give 
thee, he would reply, — Lord, give me temporal 
prosperity, give me pleasures or riches or honor; — 
for these are the great objects which every sinner 
loves and desires, and in the acquisition of which 
his happiness consists. When the Lord looketh 
down from heaven upon the children of men, he 
seeth that there are none that understand, none 
that even seek after God. Before a man can sin- 
cerely choose God for his portion, and prefer spir- 
itual wisdom to all earthly objects, his natural 
views must therefore be changed; he must be 
taught to love and value the objects which he nat- 
urally despised, and to despise the objects which 
he supremely loved and pursued. In a word, he 
must become a new creature, and to create him 
anew is the work of God. Since then God is 
pleased with all his works, and since this is his 
work, he must be pleased with the choice and with 
the prayer mentioned in our text. 

2. He is pleased with it, because it indicates 
opinions and feelings similar to his own. In the 
opinion of Jehovah, spiritual wisdom, that wisdom 
of which the fear of God is the beginning, is the 
principal thing, the one thing needful to creatures 
situated as we are. In comparison with this he 
considers all temporal objects as worthless. His 
language to us is, above all things get wisdom and 
with all thy gettings get understanding. Now 
those, who make the choice which Solomon made, 
estimate objects according to their real value; 
that is, according to their value in the estimation 
of God. Their opinions and feelings in this re- 
spect correspond with his; and since all beings are 
necessarily pleased with those who resemble them; 
God cannot but be pleased with those who resem- 



172 



Solomon's choice. 



ble him in this respect. These opinions and feel- 
ings are a part of his own image, and he must 
love his own image and be pleased with it where- 
ever it is seen. 

3. God is pleased with those who thus pray for 
a wise and understanding heart, because such 
prayers are indicative of humility. When Solo- 
mon said, I am as a little child, I know not how 
to go out, or how to come in, give thy servant 
therefore a wise and understanding heart, it evi- 
dently indicated a low or humble opinion of his 
own qualifications, and a deep conviction of his 
need of divine illumination. Similar language in- 
dicates similar feelings in all who adopt it. It 
indicates that they are not too proud to be taught, 
that they possess what our Saviour calls the tem- 
per of a little child. Now no temper so well be- 
comes such creatures as we are; no temper is so 
pleasing to God, to no temper does he make so 
many precious promises as this. God resisteth 
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. He 
that humbleth himself shall be exalted. To this 
man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a 
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. Thus 
saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eter- 
nity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high 
and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite 
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the hum- 
ble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 
These promises are sufficient proofs that God is 
pleased with humility, and since the language of 
our text indicates humility God cannot but be 
pleased with all who sincerely adopt it. 

4. God is pleased with such characters, because 
their conduct evinces that they are actuated by a 
benevolent concern for his glory and for the hap- 



solomon's choice. 



173 



piness of their fellow creatures. It is evident that 
Solomon in our text was actuated by such a tem- 
per, and not by a selfish regard to his own inter- 
ests. He does not say, give me wisdom and un- 
derstanding that I may have the praise of it, that 
my fame may be extended, but that I may discern 
between good and evil, and know how to rule this 
thy great people. He knew, as he observes in 
the context, that God had placed him on the throne. 
He therefore feared that if he should prove incom- 
petent to the duties of this station, God who called 
him to it would be dishonored. He feared that 
the mistakes and faults of the servant would re- 
flect disgrace upon the master who employed him. 
He also knew that the happiness of his people 
depended much upon his own qualifications for 
government. It was a regard for the honor of 
God, and for the happiness of his people, there- 
fore, rather than for his own sake, that he wished 
for wisdom and understanding. A similar dispo- 
sition actuates those who sincerely imitate the 
conduct of Solomon at the present day. When 
the young pray for wisdom to guide them in the 
journey of life, the parent for assistance in educa- 
ting his children, the professor for grace to adorn 
his profession, and the magistrate or minister for 
necessary qualifications, it is not so much for their 
own sakes as for the sake of others. It is that 
they may be enabled to honor God and do good to 
their fellow creatures by a faithful performance of 
their respective duties. It is true that many 
selfish unhallowed desires may, and often do, in- 
trude on such occasions; but still the prevailing 
governing disposition is such as has been describ- 
ed. Now this is a disposition exceedingly pleas- 
ing to God, whose name and whose nature is love, 
15* 



174 



solomon's choice. 



and who requires us to exercise that charity which 
seeketh not her own. 

Once more; God is pleased with those who im- 
itate the example of Solomon, because it actually 
and greatly tends to promote his glory. This it 
does in two ways. In the first place, by praying* 
to him for wisdom, we do in effect profess a belief 
that he exists, that he is a prayer hearing God; 
and, especially, that he is the only wise God, the 
Father of lights, the author and giver of every 
good and perfect gift. As we honor a man, when 
we apply to him for counsel and advice in difficult 
cases, so we honor God, when we apply to him 
for wisdom and grace. In the second place, by 
confessing that we are as little children, — igno- 
rant, blind, and helpless, and praying for a wise 
and understanding heart, we do in effect give God 
the glory of all that we are enabled to do in his 
service, or for the happiness of our fellow crea- 
tures. Our language is, not unto us, O Lord, not 
unto us, who are foolish and ignorant, but unto 
thee, who art the author of all wisdom and good- 
ness, be the glory of every thing which we are 
enabled to perform. When we read of the wis- 
dom of Solomon in connection with our text, we 
are led to admire not Solomon, but him who first 
taught him to pray for wisdom, and then gave him 
all that he possessed. When St. Paul says, by 
the grace of God I am what I am, he evidently 
turns away the attention of his admirers from 
himself to God, and refers to his grace the glory 
of all he did and suffered in the cause of Christ. 
So when persons at the present day confess that 
they have no wisdom or goodness of their own, 
and pray that God would give them a wise and 
understanding heart, they give him the whole glory 



Solomon's choice. 



175 



of all the wisdom and understanding which they 
afterwards exhibit through life. Now since God's 
glory is exceedingly dear to him, and since this 
conduct thus tends to promote his glory, he must 
evidently be pleased with those who imitate it. 
As a farther inducement to imitate the example of 
Solomon, 1 observe, 

IV. That all who make his choice, and adopt 
his prayer, shall certainly be favored with a wise 
and understanding heart. That Solomon received 
this gift you need not be told. Equally certain 
is it that all who imitate him shall receive it in 
such a degree, as their situation and circumstan- 
ces require. This is evident, in the first place, 
from the fact already adverted to, that it is God 
who by his grace inclines them to make this choice. 
It is he alone who convinces us of our natural 
blindness and ignorance, and of our need of divine 
illumination. It is he who teaches us to estimate 
objects according to their real worth, and to choose 
spiritual wisdom in preference to all earthly ob- 
jects. It is he who opens the way to the throne 
of grace, and gives us all the graces which are 
necessary to enable us to pray acceptably. Sure- 
ly, then, he will not after all this refuse to hear 
the prayers which he has himself taught us to 
make. He cannot but gratify the desires which 
he has himself inspired. We know not, says the 
apostle, what to pray for as we ought, but the 
Spirit itself helpeth our infirmities, and maketh 
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered. And he that searcheth the heart know- 
eth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he 
maketh intercession for the saints, according to 
the will of God. 



176 



Solomon's choice. 



That God will gratify the desires of those who 
thus pray for wisdom, is farther evident from his 
express promises. If any of you lack wisdom, let 
him ask of God, that giveth liberally to all men 
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 
If thou cry after knowledge and lift up thy voice 
for understanding, if thou seek her as silver and 
search for her as for hid treasures; then shalt 
thou understand the fear of the Lord, which is the 
beginning of wisdom, and find the knowledge of 
God. In a word, If ye, being evil, know how to 
give good gifts to your children; how much more 
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to 
them that ask him? 

Once more; as a farther inducement to make 
the choice of Solomon, I observe, that this is the 
surest way of obtaining a competent share of the 
good things of the present life. Because thou hast 
asked this thing, said God to Solomon, and hast 
not asked for thyself long life, nor riches nor the 
life of thine enemies, behold I have done accord- 
ing to thy words; and have also given thee what 
thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that 
there shall not be anv among; the kin^s like unto 
thee, all thy days. In a similar manner Christ 
promises to reward similar conduct in his disciples. 
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these 
things shall be added unto you. In this, as in 
other respects, it is true that he who loseth his 
life for Christ's sake shall save it; that is, he who 
from a principle of supreme love to Christ and his 
religion neither desires nor seeks for riches and 
honor, shall receive as large a portion of them, as 
an infinitely wise Father sees it best for him to 
possess. 



Solomon's choice. 



177 



IMPROVEMENT. 

Is it true, as we have asserted, that God does 
in effect say to every person present, or at least 
to every young person, Ask what I shall give 
thee? It becomes us all then to inquire what re- 
ply we are making to this address. Say then, my 
hearers, what are you asking God to give you? 
Some of you, I fear, do not ask any thing of him. 
Prayer is a duty to which you are almost or alto- 
gether strangers. But still your conduct has a 
language, and what does it say? What is the 
object of your prevailing desire and pursuits? 
What would you ask for, if you should pray and 
ask for that which you uniformly love and desire? 
If we may judge from the conduct of a large pro- 
portion of this assembly, they would be far from 
adopting the language of Solomon. Many of the 
young would say, Lord, let us be admired and be- 
loved for wit, beauty, dress, accomplishments. 
Let our days be filled up with a round of diver- 
sions and amusements. Let us live a long life of 
ease, gaiety and worldly pleasure, and when old 
age comes, if there be any such thing as conver- 
sion, let us be converted, and taken to heaven. 
Others would say, — Lord, give us wealth with all 
the blessings it bestows. Let us outstrip all our 
rivals in the acquisition of property, and excel them 
in the elegance of our habitations, our dress, our 
equipage; while the prayer of a third class would 
be, — Lord, grant us honor and distinction. Raise 
us to an elevated rank in society, and let those, 
who are now our equals, bow down to us. In 
short, if we may judge from the conduct of many 
of you, long life, pleasure, riches and honor, the 



178 



Solomon's choice. 



very things which Solomon did not ask, would be 
the favors for which you would petition, and for 
the sake of which you would be willing to renounce 
the gift of a wise and understanding heart. Now 
if this be the case, you can surely have no reason 
s o wonder or complain, if God should take you at 
your word. He has put a price into your hand3 to 
get wisdom; but like the fool you have no heart to it. 
He has told you that godliness is profitable for all 
things, having the promise of the life which now is, 
as well as of that which is to come; but you will 
not believe him. You have, therefore, no promise 
for this life or the next; and if, in the other world, 
you should find yourselves in the wretched situa- 
tion of the rich man who fared sumptuously every 
day, and, like him, beg for a drop of water to mit- 
igate your anguish, God may justly say to you, as 
Abraham did to him, Son, remember that thou in 
thy life time receivedst thy good things. Thou 
didst choose the world for thy portion, and thou 
hast had it. Christians, on the contrary, had all 
their evil things in the other world; but now they 
are comforted and ye are tormented. But if any 
of you are conscious that you have made the choice, 
and that you are daily uttering the prayer of Sol- 
omon, this subject is to you full of consolation and 
encouragement. God is pleased with your choice, 
He is pleased with those who have made it, he is 
pleased whenever you approach him in prayer with 
the language of Solomon on your lips. You have 
not perhaps been aware how many graces you 
were exercising, how much you were honoring and 
pleasing God; while, lying in the dust, ashamed 
and broken hearted before him, you have said, — 
Lord, I am ignorant, weak and helpless, as a lit- 
tle child, entirely unfit for the situation in which 



Solomon's choice. 



179 



thou hast placed me, and ignorant how to go out 
or come in as I ought. Give me therefore, O 
God, a wise and understanding heart, that I may 
know my duty and practise it by glorifying thee, 
and promoting the happiness of my fellow crea- 
tures. You did not realize, perhaps, while saying 
this, as you have often done, to God, you were ex- 
ercising faith, humility and benevolence, and pro- 
moting the glory of God. Yet all this you were 
doing; all this you will do, whenever you sincerely 
repeat this language. It will please the Lord 
whenever you ask this thing, and the more fre- 
quently and fervently you ask it, the more will he 
be pleased. Nor shall you ask in vain. Your 
prayer shall be answered by the bestowal of in- 
creasing measures of knowledge and grace; and 
the less you think of and desire temporal blessings, 
the more certainly will God bestow them upon you 
in such a degree as your present and future hap- 
piness requires. Pray then without ceasing, and 
be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 



SERMON XI 



CHARACTER AFFECTED BY INTER- 
COURSE. 

Proverbs xiii, 20. 

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise j 
hut a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 

We have often reminded you that the terms 
wisdom and folly, wise and foolish, have a very dif- 
ferent signification in the writings of Solomon, from 
that which they bear in the works of uninspired 
men. By wisdom, he means something of which the 
fear of the Lord is the prime constituent ; for he 
says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis- 
dom : a good understanding have all they that do 
his commandments. By wisdom, then, he means 
religion ; for religion begins with the fear of God. 
Of course, by the wise, he intends those who 
are religious ; those who, to use the language of 
an apostle, are wise unto salvation. By folly, on 
the contrary, he means sin ; and, by the foolish, 



CHARACTER AFFECTED. 



181 



those who love and practise it ; or, in other 
words, impenitent sinners, who are destitute of 
that fear of God with which wisdom begins. The 
import of our text then is this. He that walks 
with religious men will become religious ; but a 
companion of sinners shall be destroyed. These 
two assertions I now propose to consider sepa- 
rately, with a view to illustrate their meaning, 
and convince you of their truth. 

I. He that walks with religious men will be- 
come religious. 

The term ivalk, as used by the inspired writers, 
always signifies a continued course of conduct, or 
a manner of living, in which men persevere till it 
becomes habitual. Thus the phrase, Enoch 
ivalked with God, evidently signifies that he lived 
in a religious manner. He did not repair to God 
occasionally, when want or affliction or fear of 
death impelled ; he did not merely take a few 
steps in that path in which God condescends to 
walk with men, and then forsake it ; but he pur- 
sued that path habitually and perseveringly ; he 
lived with God, in contradistinction from those 
who live without him in the world. So the phrase, 
to walk in the way of God's commandments, evi- 
dently signifies, to pursue a coarse of holy obe- 
dience, without turning aside to the right hand or 
to the left. To walk with religious men, then, is 
not merely to mingle occasionally in their society, 
or to unite with them in performing some of the 
more public duties of religion ; but it is to make 
them habitually our chosen companions and friends, 
and, in subordination to God, our guides. It is 
not, for instance, walking with religious men to 
go with them to places of public worship ; for 
David says of Ahithophel, who died as a fool dietb, 
16 



182 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



we walked to the house of God in company. Nor 
is it walking* with religious men to converse with 
them occasionally on religious subjects ; for David 
says of the same Ahithophel, we took sweet coun- 
sel together ; that is, we had conversation pleas- 
ant to me, and, as I then thought, to him, re- 
specting subjects of a religious nature. It is not 
walking with religious men to reside with them, 
to live in a pious family, and to attend with its 
members at the family altar ; for a person may 
do this reluctantly, and his chosen associates, the 
companions of his pleasure, may be of a very dif- 
ferent character. Nor does uniting with religious 
men in promoting some of the great objects which 
the Christian world is now pursuing, necessarily 
prove that we walk with them ; for we may be 
led to do this by wrong motives, as well as by 
those which are right. But to walk with religious 
men is to choose them for our associates, our fel- 
low travellers in the journey of life ; and this im- 
plies an agreement with them in our views and 
objects of pursuit. Can two walk together, says 
the prophet, except they be agreed ? A question 
which plainly implies that they cannot. In order 
that two persons may walk together, they must be 
agreed, first, respecting the place to which they 
will go; for if one wishes to go to one place, and 
the other to a different place, they cannot be com- 
panions. In the second place, they must agree 
in opinion respecting the way which leads to that 
place; for if they disagree in this they will soon 
separate. In these two particulars, then, all who 
would walk with religious characters must agree. 

Now the place to which every religious person 
is travelling is heaven. Every such person, the 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



183 



scriptures inform us, is a pilgrim and stranger on 
earth, seeking another and better country, that is 
a heavenly. Of course, all who would walk with 
them must make heaven the object of their pur- 
suit, the place which they aim to reach. 

Again; in the opinion of every truly religious 
person the only way to heaven is Jesus Christ; 
for I, says he, am the way, the truth and the life; 
no man cometh to the Father but by me. All 
those who walk with religious persons must agree 
with them in assenting to this truth. I do not 
mean that they must immediately and cordially 
embrace it, for they would then be themselves re- 
ligious; but they must have such a conviction that 
there is a heaven, and that an interest in Jesus 
Christ is necessary to obtain it, as will draw them 
away from sinful society and sinful pleasure, and 
induce them to associate with Christians, to unite 
with them in attending diligently all the means of 
grace, and to listen with interest to religious con- 
versation; they must, in short, have such a con- 
viction of the truth and reality and importance of 
religion, as to adopt the resolution and the lan- 
guage of Ruth: Entreat us not to leave you, nor 
to return from following after you, for where you 
go, we will go, where you dwell we will dwell; 
your people shall be our people, and your God our 
God, nor shall any thing part us. Nor is it suf- 
ficient to adhere to this resolution for a short time 
only, for every person, who becomes the subject 
of serious impressions, forms such a resolution and 
adheres to it so long as these impressions remain. 
During this period he loses all relish for worldly 
pleasures, and for conversation of a worldly na- 
ture, and can enjoy no society but that of Chris- 
tians. But in too many cases this state of mind 



184 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



is of short duration. Their serious impressions 
are effaced, their desire for earthly and sinful ob- 
jects revives, they forsake religious pursuits, and 
religious society, and return, more eagerly perhaps 
than ever, to their former courses, their former 
associates. Such persons cannot be said to walk 
with religious characters, in the sense of our text; 
they do at most but take a few steps with them, 
and, instead of adhering to the resolution of Ruth, 
imitate the conduct of Orpah, who after a short 
struggle between her convictions and her inclina- 
tions, went back to her country and to her idols. 
But those, who instead of thus drawing back to 
perdition persevere to the end of life in the course 
which has been described, really walk with relig- 
ious persons, and will themselves become religious. 
There are several circumstances and considera- 
tions which, taken collectively, prove the truth of 
this assertion, though no one of them taken sepa- 
rately would be sufficient to prove it. 

In the first place, the simple fact, that a person 
chooses to associate with religious characters, in 
religious pursuits, proves that he is already the 
subject of serious impressions; that his under- 
standing is convinced of the reality and importance 
of religion; that his conscience is awakened, and 
that, to use the language of inspiration, the Spirit 
of God is striving with him; for it is most certain 
that, unless this is the case, no person will ever 
forsake his sinful pleasures and pursuits, and his 
sinful companions for the society of Christians. 
All his natural feelings and inclinations render 
him averse to their society, and prevent his finding 
pleasure in religious pursuits; while, at the same 
time, they urge him to pursue worldly objects, and 
give him a relish for the company of worldly asso- 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



185 



elates. He is also aware that, should he forsake 
his worldly companions for the society of Chris- 
tians, he will expose himself to their contempt and 
become the subject of their ridicule. What then 
is to induce him to act contrary to his natural 
feelings and inclinations, and to exchange society 
which he loves, and in which he finds pleasure, for 
that which is disagreeable, and to expose himself 
to ridicule and contempt? It is most evident that 
nothing can do this but the power of an awakened 
conscience, of strong conviction produced by the 
Spirit of God. He, then, who begins to walk 
with religious persons, is already the subject of 
religious impressions, the Spirit of God is operat- 
ing upon his mind, and this affords some reason to 
hope that he will become really religious. At 
least his situation is much more hopeful than that 
of a person who feels no religious concern. 

In the second place, he who walks with relig- 
ious persons, will see and hear many things which 
powerfully tend to increase and perpetuate those 
serious impressions of which he is already the sub- 
ject; while, at the same time, he will be with- 
drawn from the operation of many of those causes 
by which such impressions are effaced. There is 
nothing which tends more powerfully to obliterate 
these impressions, than the society, the conversa- 
tion, and example of the world. These causes 
have destroyed more, who once were not far from 
the kingdom of God, than perhaps all other causes 
united. Indeed it is, humanly speaking, impossi- 
ble that any serious impressions should remain long 
upon a mind, which is exposed to the full malig- 
nant influence of these causes. But he who walks 
with religious persons is very much withdrawn from 
this fatal influence, Not only so, but he is brought 
16* 



186 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



under a different and salutary influence. He 
moves in a circle where God, and the Redeemer, 
and the soul, and salvation, and heaven, are re- 
garded as objects of supreme importance; and 
where the world, with all which it contains, is 
considered as comparatively worthless. He moves 
in a circle where he sees religion exemplified, 
where it is presented to him not as a cold abstrac- 
tion, or as a lifeless form, but living, breathing, 
and acting, in the person of its disciples. He 
sees the salutary and happy effects which it pro- 
duces; he sees that it does not, as he once thought, 
render its votaries gloomy or morose or misan- 
thropic, but that its fruits are love and joy and 
peace. In addition, he hears much conversation 
on religious subjects, much that is calculated to 
instruct him, to warn him, and to increase his 
conviction of sin, and his desire to become truly 
religious. Besides he is almost daily brought 
under the operation of some of the means which 
God employs to produce and increase conviction, 
and to effect conversion. It is therefore, io say 
the least, highly probable that he will become truly 
religious. 

In the third place, as the term walk signifies a 
continued course of conduct, it is evident that one, 
who walks with religious men, must be the subject 
of serious impressions for many years successively. 
We have already seen that no one will begin to 
walk with religious persons, till he becomes the 
subject of serious impressions. Equally evident is 
it, that ho one will continue to walk with them 
after his serious impressions are effaced. He 
then who does continue to walk with them through 
life, must be the subject of serious impressions 
through life. But no one, it is presumed, ever 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



187 



heard of an instance in which a person, who was 
the subject of serious impressions through life, did 
not become religious. It is true persons may be 
seriously affected, occasionally, and perhaps for 
years together, and at different seasons, may as- 
sociate much with religious characters, without 
becoming religious; but such persons cannot be 
said to ivalk with good men in the sense of the 
text; for their religious impressions are often 
effaced for a considerable time, and long intervals 
of carelessness succeed, during which they forsake 
in a great measure religious pursuits, and religious 
society. But it is believed that no instance can 
be found, of a person who continued through life 
to walk with religious characters, and yet never 
became religious. We readily allow, indeed, that 
such a thing is possible; there is nothing in the 
nature of things to prevent it. God could, if he 
pleased, produce convictions of sin, and apprehen- 
sion of future punishment which should last through 
life, and yet never be followed by conversion. But 
this is not his method. His method is, to give up 
those who obstinately resist his grace, to hardness 
of heart and to blindness of mind, and thus leave 
them to walk in their own ways, and to be filled 
with the fruit of their own devices. Hence the 
serious impressions of those who finally perish are 
usually of short continuance; or if they continue 
long, it is with many interruptions. Nothing but 
real grace, but genuine religion, will enable a man 
to endure to the end. He then who continues to 
walk with religious men to the end of his "life will 
become religious. Indeed he must have become 
so before many years, perhaps before many months 
had been spent in such a course. 



188 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



II. Let us now consider the second assertion 
contained in our text, Ji companion of sinners 
shall be destroyed. By a companion of sinners is 
evidently meant, one who chooses for his asso- 
ciates persons regardless of religion. It does not 
render us companions of sinners to reside with 
them, to transact business with them, or to visit 
and converse with them for the purpose of per- 
forming kind offices, or of promoting their eternal 
interests. But if we select them as our intimate 
associates; if we choose to spend our leisure hours 
in their company; if we find pleasure in their so- 
ciety, and prefer it to that of religious persons; 
then we are certainly their companions in the 
sense of the text, and shall perish with them. 
The truth of this assertion will appear evident 
from the following considerations viewed collec- 
tively. 

In the first place, it is certain that he, who is 
in this sense a companion of sinners, is the sub- 
ject of no religious impressions, that he has few 
if any serious thoughts. The very fact, that he 
chooses such persons for his associates and com- 
panions, proves that he resembles them; that his 
views and feelings respecting religion correspond 
with theirs, and that their conversation is agreea- 
ble to his taste. Referring to such characters 
our Saviour says, They are of the world, there- 
fore speak they of the world, and the world heareth 
or listeneth to them. Hence it appears that they 
whose conversation is of a worldly nature, and 
they, who listen with pleasure to such conversa- 
tion, are alike of the world. Besides, we have 
already seen that, as soon as any person becomes 
the subject of serious impressions, he wishes to 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



189 



associate with serious characters. Such persons 
only will converse with him on that subject which 
lies nearest his heart, and which therefore is most 
interesting; from such persons alone can he obtain 
that information which he desires; and they alone 
can understand and sympathize in his feelings. 
To speak on worldly subjects to such a person, 
will be like singing songs to a heavy heart. How 
can he, who is burdened with a load of guilt, and 
feels that his Maker is displeased with him; that 
his soul is in danger; that his eternal interests are 
at stake — find pleasure in conversing on subjects 
comparatively worthless and trifling? It is impos- 
sible. Nothing then can be more certain than 
the fact, that he, who selects irreligious persons 
for his companions, and finds pleasure in their 
society, is not the subject of any serious impres- 
sions. He exactly resembles those with whom 
he associates, and is like them pursuing the broad 
and crowded road which leads to destruction. 

In the second place, he who chooses for his 
companions, persons regardless of religion, takes 
the most effectual way to prevent any serious im- 
pressions from being ever made, on his mind. \ 
Experience and observation unite to prove, that 
the human mind, as is said of the cameleon, takes 
the complexion of those with whom it associates, 
and that the force of example, especially of bad 
example, is almost irresistible. There is in human 
nature a principle of association, in consequence 
of which we can scarcely avoid becoming, in some 
degree at least, conformed to those with whom we 
associate on intimate and friendly terms. The 
operation of this principle is powerfully assisted, 
and its effects increased, by that desire to please 
which is natural to man. Hence he, who selects 



190 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



persons regardless of religion as his companions? 
will become more and more like them; he will 
imitate their example; he will become thoroughly 
imbued with their spirit; and receive their princi- 
ples and maxims as the perfection of wisdom. He 
will see them treat religion with indifference and 
neglect; he will hear them speak of it, if they 
speak of it at all, with levity, if not with contempt; 
he will find that they consider attention to it as 
quite unnecessary, and regard those who are the 
subjects of serious impressions as weak and de- 
luded. Now it is evident that nothing can tend 
more powerfully than this to prevent him from ever 
becoming the subject of such impressions. It is 
evident that, by mingling in such society, he 
will become hardened against the truth, and for- 
tified against every argument, motive and consid- 
eration of a religious nature which can be present- 
ed to his mind. He will come to the house of 
God, not with any desire to receive instruction, 
but merely to spend an idle hour in vain thoughts, 
or in unprofitable gazing, or in listening for some- 
thing to which he may plausibly object, or turn 
into ridicule; and while divine truth drops around 
him, like the rain, and distils as the dew, there 
will be, if I may so express it, an umbrella spread 
over his head which will suffer no salutary drop to 
fall upon him; or, in the language of scripture, 
there will be a veil upon his heart, through which 
the light of divine truth cannot penetrate. It is 
therefore evident, not only that such a person has 
no serious impressions, but that there is very 
little reason to hope he will ever be the subject of 
them. 

In the third place, he who selects persons, re- 
gardless of religion for his associates, takes the 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



191 



most effectual way to banish those serious thoughts 
which will occasionally rise in the minds even of 
the most careless. God employs various means 
to excite such thoughts. An attack of disease, 
the death tff a companion, or an awakening ser- 
mon, often occasions them. Now if a person in 
whose mind such thoughts arise, would entertain 
them willingly, cherish them, commune with his 
own heart and seek the society of religious per- 
sons, the consequences might be most happy and 
lasting. But if he associates with persons regard- 
less of religion, his serious thoughts will almost 
infallibly be banished. Suppose, for instance, that 
a person, who comes careless and thoughtless to 
the house of God, finds his attention arrested, his 
understanding convinced, his conscience awakened 
by the truths which he hears. While listening to 
these truths, he probably forms a kind of vague, 
undefined resolution, that he will pay more atten- 
tion to religious subjects than he has done. But 
he leaves the house of God, and almost unavoida- 
bly falls in with some of his irreligious compan- 
ions. He soon finds that the truths, to which he 
has been listening with interest, have not affected 
them in the same manner. If he ventures to hint, 
that the sermon was convincing, or the subject of 
it important, his remarks are received with the 
most frigid indifference, or with a look of surprise 
mingled with contempt. He is, therefore, obliged 
to repress his serious thoughts, and such thoughts 
when repressed soon leave us. Besides, he must 
make an effort to enter into conversation, or his 
companions will suspect him of being serious, — a 
suspicion which he cannot bear to have them en- 
tertain. The subject of conversation will, of 
course, be of a worldly nature; it will excite 



192 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



worldly thoughts, and thus his serious thoughts 
will be banished, so that, before he quits his com- 
panions and returns home, the effects of the truth 
which he has heard is entirely obliterated. I dare 
appeal to many of you, my hearers, for the truth 
of these remarks. Many of you cannot deny that 
you have been religiously affected by the truth 
which you have heard in this house; nor can you 
deny that when you were thus affected, the socie- 
ty, conversation and example of your irreligious 
companions, banished your serious thoughts and 
lulled you to sleep again in the lap of sinful secu- 
rity. Thus it will always be, while you choose 
such companions. You may be a thousand times 
roused, and a thousand times may resolve that you 
will be more attentive to religion; but so long as 
you are a companion of sinners, your serious 
thoughts will be banished and all your resolutions 
broken. 

Finally, he, who associates with persons regard- 
less of religion, will inevitably form confirmed 
habits of feeling, thinking and acting, which will 
operate most powerfully to prevent him from ever 
becoming religious, and thus effect his destruction. 
The language of inspiration is, Can the Ethiopian 
change his skin or the leopard his spots? then may 
those, who are accustomed to do evil, learn to do 
well. But by associating with irreligious com- 
panions, men soon become accustomed to do evil. 
They acquire confirmed habits of neglecting reli- 
gion, of delaying preparation for death, and of 
banishing serious thoughts. They also become 
more blindly devoted to the world, more fond of 
the society, conversation, and pursuits of those 
with whom they associate, and of course more en- 
slaved by their influence and example. Thus, to 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



193 



use the language of scripture, their bands are made 
strong, so strong that they will probably never 
break them. Nor is this all, there are among us 
few men, at least few young men, totally regard- 
less of religion, whose morals are perfectly pure; 
few, who are not addicted to some species of vice. 
One is profane, another is intemperate, a third is 
debauched, and a fourth is not strictly honest. 
These sins may, at first, disgust a young man, 
whose morals are as yet uncontaminated; but if 
he continues to associate with those who are guilty 
of them, his disgust will infallibly, though gradu- 
ally, subside. He will first tolerate these vices, 
for the sake of those who practise them; then he 
will learn to give them soft, extenuating names; 
next he will be taught that it is a proof of spirit 
and genius, in a young man, to plunge into some 
excesses; finally he will take the plunge, and be 
entangled in a whirlpool, from which there is little 
reason to hope he will ever escape. What thou- 
sands and what millions of once promising youth 
have been ruined in this manner! Multitudes of 
our race have died in consequence of taking the 
plague, the yellow fever, the small pox, from the 
diseased; but far greater multitudes have been 
ruined, both for this world and for the next, by 
taking the infection of vice from vicious com- 
panions. 

From the preceding remarks, it appears that 
he, who associates with persons regardless of re- 
ligion, has no present religious impressions; that 
he takes the most effectual way to prevent such 
impressions from being made on his mind, and to 
efface them when they are made; and that he is 
continually forming habits most unfavorable to re- 
ligion, and thus bringing himself into a state in 
17 



194 



CHARACTER AFFECTED 



which he can no more learn to do well, than an 
Ethiopian can change his skin, or a leopard his 
spots: of course, he will die without religion, and 
the doom of all who die without religion, is de- 
struction. The companion of sinners then will be 
destroyed. It remains to make some improvement 
of the subject. 

1. From this subject we may learn what course 
we are pursuing, and what will be our fate if we 
continue in our present course till the end of life. 
We cannot but know who are our chosen compan- 
ions and associates; with whom we love to con- 
verse, and in whose society we find most pleasure. 
We cannot but know whether they consist of per- 
sons apparently religious, or of those who pay no 
regard to religion. Say then, my bearers, who 
are your associates? Are you walking with reli- 
gious characters, or are you companions of sin- 
ners? I ask this question, not only of those out 
of the church, but of those who are in it; for, 
strange as it may appear, there are many in the 
church of Christ, who are companions of sinners. 
They are united to the church only by the exter- 
nal tie of a profession; they do not walk with it; 
their hearts are not with it, but with the world. 
They feel most at home in worldly society; in 
such society they find most pleasure. In worldly 
conversation they engage with most interest; 
worldly objects they pursue with most ardor. Now 
such persons, notwithstanding their profession, are 
companions of sinners in the sense of our text. 
Say then, my hearers, what are you? Are you 
with Christ or against him? Can you truly say 
to God, in the language of the psalmist, I am a 
companion of them that fear thee, and that keep 
thy precepts? Are such characters your chosen 



BY INTERCOURSE. 



195 



associates, in whose company you find most pleas- 
ure, with whom you love to spend your leisure 
hours? Then you either are religious, or if you 
continue to pursue this course through life, will 
become so. But if you are a companion of those 
who pay no regard to religion, you are certainly 
irreligious, and if you pursue this course, destruc- 
tion, everlasting destruction, will be your portion. 

2. Let me beseech all present, and especially 
the young, to be guided by this subject in making 
choice of their associates. Remember that you 
are immortal beings, choosing companions for eter- 
nity. Remember, that if you ehoose to associate 
with persons regardless of religion now, you must 
associate with them forever. You must be part- 
ners with them in their destruction. Remember 
too, that when you meet them in the other world, 
you will find them stripped of every quality which 
now renders their society pleasing. For from him 
which hath not, shall be taken away even that 
which he seemeth to have. Then those who are 
now your tempters shall be your tormentors, and 
feel a diabolical gratification in adding to your 
wretchedness. On the other hand, if you walk 
with good men, you shall share heaven with them, 
you shall have them for your companions through 
eternity; and not as they are now, stained by 
many imperfections, but perfect in every intellec- 
tual and moral excellence. Nor is this all. You 
shall also enjoy the society of angels, of your Re- 
deemer, of your God. O then, be companions of 
them that fear God. Shun the society of every 
one who is addicted to any vice, as you would shun 
a man infected with the plague; for if you associ- 
ate with such a person, there is almost a moral 
certainty that his vices will become yours. Still 



196 



CHARACTER AFFECTED. 



more earnestly would I press an attention to this 
subject on those who are the subjects of serious 
impressions, or who have any serious thoughts. 
Do you wish to have such thoughts forever banish- 
ed, such impressions effaced from your mind? do 
you wish to live without religion, to die without 
hope, and to perish forever? Then choose for 
your companions persons who are regardless of 
religion. On the other hand, do you wish that 
your serious thoughts should continue, that your 
serious impressions should become deep and last- 
ing, and that they should end in conversion? do 
you wish to live religiously, to die triumphantly, to 
be happy eternally? Then shun irreligious society 
and walk with good men. Choose them for your 
companions, listen to their instruction, request 
their prayers, imitate their example, attend with 
them on all the means of grace, converse with 
them freely respecting your religious concerns. 
Pursue this course without interruption, and the 
issue will be happy. 

Finally; permit me, in the name of all God's 
people, to address to each of you the invitation 
which Moses gave to Hobab; We are journeying 
to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it 
you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good; 
for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel* 



SERMON XII. 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 

Daniel x, 11. 
0 Daniel, a man greatly beloved. 

One of the great excellencies of Scripture is, 
that it points out to us the path of duty, not only 
by precept, but by example. Not to mention the 
perfect pattern of a holy life, which it sets before 
us in the character and conduct of Christ, it pre- 
sents to our view men of like passions with our- 
selves, in almost every possible variety of situa- 
tion; and while it urges us, by the most powerful 
motives, to become followers of those, who, by 
faith and patience now inherit the promises, it 
clearly describes the way which led them to glory; 
and teaches us by their example, in what manner 
to discharge the duties, support the trials, and 
overcome the temptations, of our probationary 
state. 

Of those whose characters are thus recorded 
for our imitation, few, if any, will be found supe- 
16* 



198 



CHARACTER OP DANIEL. 



rior to Daniel. His life as described in Scripture^ 
appears to be without blemish. He is almost the 
only eminent saint there mentioned, of whom no 
fault is recorded. Nor was his character for 
goodness merely of the negative kind. Even dur- 
ing his life, he was placed by Jehovah himself, in 
the same rank with Job and Noah; men eminent 
in their day for faith and piety. In addition to 
this infallible testimony in his favor, we find him, 
once and again, addressed by an angel, as a man 
peculiarly dear to God. O man greatly beloved, 
says he, fear not; peace be unto thee; be strong, 
yea, be strong: for I am come to give thee skill 
and understanding, for thou art greatly beloved. 
The same title is given him in our text, by one 
who appears to have been the Son of God. I 
looked, says the prophet, and behold a man clothed 
in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold. 
His body also was like the beryl; and his face as 
the appearance of lightning, and his eves as lamps 
of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to 
polished brass, and the voice of his words like the 
voice of a multitude. And he said unto me, O 
Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the 
words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; 
for to thee am I sent. 

My friends, nothing is more indispensably ne- 
cessary to the welfare of all creatures, than the 
favor of their Creator. To be greatly beloved of 
God, is the highest honor and happiness, to which 
we can possibly attain, either in this world or the 
next. Hence it becomes a matter of infinite im- 
portance, for us to know how this privilege is to 
be obtained. This knowledge we may easily ac- 
quire, from an attentive consideration of the life 
and conduct of Daniel. We know from infallible 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL, 



199 



testimony, that he was greatly beloved; and have 
therefore every reason to conclude, that all who 
resemble him, will enjoy the love and favor of 
God. Let us then carefully examine his charac- 
ter, and ascertain, if possible, why he was so 
greatly beloved by his Creator. 

The first thing in his character which deserves 
our attention, is his early piety. Like Josiah, 
though he was very young when carried captive to 
Babylon, yet even then, he appears from his con- 
duct to have been eminently pious. He must 
therefore like Josiah, have begun at a very tender 
age, to seek after the Lord God of his fathers, 
At a period of life, when most young persons are 
wholly engrossed by follies and trifles, and know 
nothing of spiritual and divine things, he was well 
acquainted with the law of God; and, though a 
child in years, was a man in knowledge and un- 
derstanding. This remembrance of his Creator 
in the days of his youth, when mankind generally 
forget him, was doubtless one among other things, 
which gave him so distinguished a place in the di- 
vine favor; for God's language to his creatures, 
is, I love them that love me. 

Another trait in the character of Daniel, de- 
serving our attention, is the caution, zeal and res- 
olution which he displayed, in keeping himself un- 
spotted from the world. This, the apostle James 
informs us, is an essential part of pure and unde- 
filed religion; and for this, Daniel was highly 
distinguished. When carried to Babylon, he, 
with a few companions, children in whom was no 
blemish, but who were well-favored, and skilful in 
all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and under- 
standing science, and possessing ability to stand 
in the king's presence, was selected from the other 



200 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



captives, and taken into the royal palace; that 
they might acquire the learning and language of 
the Chaldeans. In this situation, the king ap- 
pointed them a daily provision of his own meat, 
and of the wine which he drank; so nourishing 
them for three years, that, at the end thereof, they 
might stand before the king. But Daniel purpos- 
ed in his heart, that he would not defile himself 
with the king's meat. Various reasons might in- 
duce him to adopt this resolution. He might do 
it from love to his country, and his fellow captives, 
with a view to shew his sorrow for their calami- 
ties. He could say with Nehemiah; why should 
not my countenance be sad; why should I indulge 
my appetite in feasting, when the city and place 
of my fathers' sepulchres lieth waste, and the 
gates therefore are burned with fire? If I forget 
thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
cunning: if I do not remember thee, let my tongue 
cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not 
Jerusalem above my chief joy. For a Jew to be 
joyful, when his nation was thus smarting under 
the judgments of heaven, was not only unsuitable 
and improper, but highly displeasing to God: for 
we find in the prophet Amos, a woe denounced 
against those who eat the lambs out of the flock, 
and the calves out of the stall, and drink wine in 
bowls, in a time of public calamity, but are not 
grieved for the afflictions of Joseph. A regard to 
his country, and to this threatening, might possi- 
bly have some influence, in producing Daniel's 
resolution not to defile himself with the king's 
meat. But it was, more probably, from a princi- 
ple of obedience to the divine law. You need not 
be told, that, by the law, the Jews were strictly 
forbidden to eat certain animals, which were used 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



201 



for food among the heathen; and that all kinds of 
food which had been previously offered in sacrifice 
to idols, were considered by them as unclean. 
Had Daniel shared in the king's provision, he 
would have been under the necessity of eating, not 
only meats which had been offered to idols, but 
meats which were absolutely forbidden by the law 
of Moses. He, therefore, resolved not to defile 
himself by partaking of it; but to live only on 
herbs and water. If we consider the circumstan- 
ces of his situation, my friends, we shall find rea- 
son to admire the firmness, zeal, and tenderness 
of conscience, displayed in this resolution. In 
age, he was but a child. The royal delicacies 
which he was invited, and even commanded to 
partake of, would doubtless have been highly grat- 
ifying to his appetite; and he might easily have 
invented many plausible excuses for enjoying them. 
He might have pleaded that he was a captive, 
and under obligation to obey those into whose 
power Providence had thrown him. He might 
have pleaded that by refusing to partake of the 
king's meat, he should bring upon himself much 
ridicule and reproach, and perhaps expose himself 
to severe punishments. He might have pleaded 
that the Jewish ceremonial law, was not intended 
to be binding in a foreign country; and that since 
he was among the Chaldeans, he was under the 
necessity of complying with their manners and 
customs. With much less plausible excuses than 
these, do young persons, in general, satisfy them- 
selves for complying with the sinful customs and 
manners of the world. But Daniel, notwithstand- 
ing his tender age, had sufficient firmness of mind 
to reject them. Be the consequence what it might; 
he was determined to maintain his integrity, and 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



to preserve himself unspotted, in the midst of a 
luxurious court, and ensnaring examples. Thus 
be. early, began to deny uui'ooliuess. and every 
worldly lust, and to lire soberly and temperately, 
presenting Lis body as a living sacrifice, holy and 
acceptable to G:d. Tn;s conduct doubtless had a 
tendency to secure the divine favor, and to render 
him a man ireatlv be!:ved bv Lis Creator. It 



hfs'cr.untrv. :". his^Ged: . u like M^s^s^he 

God, tnan to en : ;v the measures of sin for a 



A third remarkable trait m the character ot 
Daniel, is the holy indifference and contempt with 
which he looked down on world! v honor, wealth 
and applause. We have already seen how little 

pleasures, by which the young are so often fascin- 
ated and ensnared. As little did he value wealth 
and honor. Though he was of royal descent, and 
though he had. from his infancy, been educated in 

ored, and the world idolized as the one thing 
needful; and though he possessed, in the court of 

to have considered all these ensnaring objects, for 

worthy of hi^pursuit It i^rue.'he obtained boTh 
riches and honors; but it is no less true, that he 
never sought tnem. They came to him unasked, 
and undesired. He evidently appears to have 
preferred a calm, retired, humble station, to all 
that kin2;s and courts could £ive. Witness the • 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



203 



manner in which he treated the monarchs under 
whose government he lived. Instead of flattering 
them, as did others, and as he would have done, 
had he desired to secure their favor, he never fail- 
ed to reprove them for their sins, when a favora- 
ble opportunity was offered him. Hear, with what 
holy boldness he reproved the proud Nebuchadnez- 
zar, the most powerful monarch on earth. Break 
off thy sins, says he, by righteousness; and thine 
iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor. This was 
strange language to the ears of a prince, who was 
accustomed to hear nothing, but the most extrav- 
agant praises and flatteries; and who was never 
addressed by his subjects, without their prostrating 
themselves before him. With the same holy zeal 
and fortitude, did he reprove the impious Belshaz- 
zar. When he offered to clothe Daniel in scarlet 
robes, adorn his neck with a chain of gold, and 
make him the third ruler in the kingdom; he re- 
plied with a holy contempt for these glittering 
trifles, let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy re- 
wards to another. Thou, 0 Belshazzar, hast not 
humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all that 
befel thy father, for his pride; but thou hast lifted 
up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and the 
God in whose hands thy breath is, thou hast not 
glorified. This, my friends, is not the language 
of a man of the world, who wished for the riches 
and honors, which kings bestow on their favorites? 
No; it is the independent language of a man cru- 
cified to the world, and regardless of what that 
world could bestow. This trait in his character, 
was indispensably necessary, to render him belov- 
ed by his Maker; for we are expressly assured, 
that the love and friendship of the world, are en- 
mity with God. 



204 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



Another part of Daniel's character, which we 
are called to notice, is his exemplary piety and 
devotion. He was emphatically a man of prayer. 
Though he lived in the midst of the tumult, noise, 
and confusion of a court, and during a great part 
of his life, had almost the sole direction of the 
counsels and offices of a powerful nation, which 
must necessarily involve him in an ocean of busi- 
ness, cares, and perplexities; yet he daily found 
much more time for secret prayer, than many 
Christians can find at the present day, who have 
nothing but their own private concerns to engage 
their attention. He never pleaded, as an excuse 
for neglecting this duty, that his body was too much 
wearied, and his mind too much perplexed by con- 
stant care and fatigue, to perform it. No; what- 
ever obstacles might oppose it, or however loudly 
necessary business might demand his attention, 
he prayed to God, regularly, three times in a day; 
and would much sooner have thought of neglecting 
his daily food, and sleep, than of omitting these 
accustomed devotional exercises. He lived, in 
this respect, like a man, who knew that his soul 
needed daily refreshment, as well as his body; 
and who felt that, without God, he could do noth- 
ing. Prayer was not, with him, an idle form, a 
heartless ceremony, or a duty performed merely to 
quiet his conscience. No; it was his joy and de- 
light; it was the very life of his soul: and with 
almost as much ease, might the sun be turned 
from his course, as he from his daily approaches 
to the throne of grace. Even the commands of 
the king, and the certainty of being cast into the 
den of lions, could not, for one moment, deter him 
from the performance of this duty. My friends, 
do you love prayer thus fervently and sincerely? 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



£05 



How often, think you, should you approach the 
throne of grace, if your way to it lay through a 
den of lions? 

But to return. In addition to the prayers which 
Daniel offered up, three times in a day, he fre- 
quently set apart seasons, for more especial atten- 
tion to this duty. He set his face, as he expresses 
it, to seek the Lord God, by prayer and supplica- 
tion, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; and 
in the performance of these duties, he sometimes 
spent the greater part of every day, for weeks to- 
gether. Since God loves those, who love him, we 
cannot wonder, that a man, whose fervent love for 
his Maker, led him so frequently and constantly 
to the mercy seat, should be greatly beloved in 
return. 

Another trait, in the character of this eminent 
saint, was his strong faith, and confidence in God. 
That he possessed such a faith, is evident from 
the frequency, and fervency of his prayers; since 
none truly pray, but those whose faith is strong 
and lively. That his faith was of this character 
is farther evident, from his conduct, and from the 
testimony of Scripture. It was this which ena- 
bled him, without shrinking, to enter the lions' 
den, and which preserved him there unhurt. He 
was taken up out of the den, we are told, and no 
manner of hurt was found upon him; why? — be- 
cause, says the inspired penman, he believed in his 
God. This, this alone preserved him. Like Mo- 
ses, he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 
By faith, he could realize God's presence, and his> 
ability to shut the lions' mouths. It was in con- 
sequence of possessing such a faith as this, that 
Abraham was called the friend of God. My 
friends, is your faith of this kind? Does it pro- 
18 



206 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



duce effects similar to these? Does it support 
and comfort you, in dangers, trials, and tempta- 
tions? It will do so, if it be genuine. But if it 
is not, if it is mere natural, speculative belief, it 
will have little effect. It will not overcome the 
world, it will not lead you to encounter perils and 
difficulties, for the sake of Christ; it will not en- 
able you to see him who is invisible. It is with- 
out fruits; it is dead. 

Again; profound humility, and a consequent 
disposition to give the glory to God, is another re- 
markable trait in the character of Daniel. This 
appears in his confessions and praises. Notwith- 
standing his eminent piety, we find him saying, O 
Lord, we have sinned, and have committed iniqui- 
ty, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled by 
departing from thy precepts, and thy judgments. 
He seems to be at a loss for expressions sufficient- 
ly strong, to describe the greatness of his sins, and 
heaps words together, in order, if possible, to shew 
the deep sense, which he entertained, of his guilt 
and unworthiness. In the exercise of the same 
humble temper, we find him renouncing all preten- 
sions, to any worthiness or righteousness of his 
own; and depending entirely on the sovereign 
mercy of God. He might have trusted to his own 
prayers and merits, with as much propriety, as 
any man that ever existed; but instead of this, 
we find him saying, 0 Lord, unto thee belongeth 
righteousness, but unto us confusion of face: we 
do not present our supplications before thee, for 
our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. The 
same humble temper is strikingly expressed, in his 
language to Nebuchadnezzar, when he revealed 
to him, his dream, with its interpretation. In- 
stead of taking to himself, the glory of this inter- 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 207 



pretation, he says, There is a God in heaven, who 
revealeth secrets; but as for me, this secret is not 
revealed to me, for the sake of any wisdom that 
I have more than others. Here, my friends, you 
see the genuine language of humility. He was 
afraid that the king would suppose, either that he 
had discovered this secret by his own wisdom, or 
that it was revealed to him for the sake of his 
own superior goodness; and that thus, God would 
lose the glory of his own work. With a view to 
prevent this, and to lead the king to give the 
glory to God, he modestly disclaims all praise, 
and refers it to him to whom it was due. He 
who thus humbles himself shall be exalted. 

The last trait in the character of Daniel, which 
I shall mention, is, that his religion was habitual, 
uniform, consistent, and lasting. He was always 
the same. In childhood, in youth, in manhood, 
and in age; he inflexibly followed the path of 
duty, and steadfastly adhered to the God of his 
fathers. Nothing could seduce, nothing could drive 
him from his course, or induce him to deviate from 
it, for one moment, in the smallest possible de- 
gree. Of this, his conduct, when his enemies 
conspired to ruin him, affords a striking and sat- 
isfactory proof. When he knew that the decree, 
condemning any one, who should pray to God, for 
thirty days, to be cast into a den of lions, was 
irrevocably passed; he went into his house, and 
prayed to God, as usual, three times a day; his 
windows being opened towards Jerusalem. Yet 
how many plausible excuses might he have made, 
for conducting differently; and how many would he 
have made, had he resembled some professing 
Christians of the present day. He might have 
pleaded, that his life was of great consequence to 



208 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



his countrymen; that it was in his power to do 
much good, in his then elevated station; that he 
was bound to obey the king his master; that it 
was his duty to preserve his own life; and that it 
would do no harm to any one, on such an occa- 
sion, to abstain from prayer for thirty days. At 
least, he might have urged that it would be justi- 
fiable, in such circumstances, to shut his windows, 
and pray in private; and thus disappoint the wick- 
ed designs of his enemies. These excuses, — any 
one but a real Christian, would have made, and 
considered himself justified in omitting prayer en- 
tirely, or at least, performing it in secret. But 
Daniel was really religious, and therefore could 
not be deceived by these plausible excuses. He 
knew that he was watched. He knew that, if he 
neglected to pray with his windows open, as usual, 
his enemies would assert that he had omitted that 
duty. He knew that, in this case, it would be 
said, See, Daniel, notwithstanding his pretended 
firmness and piety, can, like others, make his re- 
ligion bend to his interest. He prefers his life to 
his duty. He cannot trust in his God, to save 
him. His God, therefore, can be no better than 
the gods of the nations; and his religion is no bet- 
ter than ours. Thus God would be dishonored, 
the Chaldeans would be prejudiced against the 
true religion, and a glorious opportunity of suffer- 
ing for Jehovah, would be lost forever. These 
reasons did not allow Daniel to hesitate, a mo- 
ment, respecting what he ought to do; and for him, 
to know what he ought to do, and to do it, were 
the same. He never troubled himself about con- 
sequences. He only asked, what is duty? When 
he once saw the path of duty, he would follow it, 
though hell should open her mouth in his way. 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



209 



This, the whole tenor of his conduct proves; and 
a similar course must be pursued by all, who wish 
to be, like him, beloved by their Maker. 



IMPROVEMENT. 

1. From this subject we may learn, my friends, 
how religion dignifies, and ennobles our nature, 
when it is entertained in its power and purity. 
How noble, how dignified, how sublime, does the 
character of Daniel appear! That you may see 
this in its true light, bring him forward; and com- 
pare him with the nobles, princes, and great ones 
of Babylon. See them indulging in sensual pleas- 
ures, proud of their wealth and birth, panting for 
riches, honor, and applause, seeking these transi- 
tory trifles by every possible means, neglecting 
immortal honors and glories; and meanly envying 
and hating that excellence, which they could not 
reach. See Daniel, on the contrary, calm, firm, 
and self-collected; with an eye fixed on God and 
heaven, despising the trifles which they pursued, 
aiming at the glory of his Maker, and the happi- 
ness of his fellow creatures, and following with 
unconquerable, undeviating resolution, the path of 
duty. While they grovelled on the earth, his head, 
and his heart were in heaven: — while their minds 
were darkened by the clouds of ignorance and 
prejudice, and their breasts convulsed by the storms 
of ambition, avarice, envy, and revenge; his ex- 
alted soul dwelt in regions of eternal day, far above 
the clouds of mental ignorance, and the storms of 
contending passions. That you may, still more 
clearly, discern the superiority of his character, 
compare him with the kings whom he served. See 
17* 



210 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



Belshazzar, making a great feast, to a thousand 
of his lords; and surrounded by every thing, which 
could dazzle or delight the senses. See Nebu- 
chadnezzar, walking in the midst of his palace, 
reflecting with self-complacency, on the nations he 
had subdued; and proudly exclaiming, Is not this 
great Babylon that I have built, for the house of 
the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for 
the honor of my majesty? Then turn your eyes to 
the prophet. See him, with that heroic boldness, 
which nothing but true piety can give, reproving 
the pride of one of these kings, and the impious 
extravagance of the other; see him, in defiance of 
threats, and impending danger, bending his knees 
to the only being whom he feared: see him, with 
unshaken calmness and serenity, sitting in the 
rnidst of ravenous lions, who, like lambs, crouch at 
his feet; — and then say which was the more dig- 
nified character, he, or the proud kings of Babylon. 
Nay more, say which possessed the more enviable 
titles and honors; he or they? They were styled 
princes, on earth. But he, as a prince; had power 
with God and prevailed. They were honored, ad- 
mired, and applauded by their fellow-worms; but 
he was greatly beloved by his God. Who would 
not be Daniel in the lion's den, rather than Bel- 
shazzar, at his feast, or Nebuchadnezzar on his 
golden throne? O how evidently does it, in this 
instance, appear, that the righteous is more excel- 
lent than his neighbor. Such being the superior 
excellence of Daniel's character, permit us farther 
to improve the subject, by inquiring, 

2. Do you, my friends, possess a similar char- 
acter? This, all must allow to be an important 
question; since if we do not resemble Daniel, we 
are not, like him, beloved of God. Say then, does 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



211 



your temper, your conduct resemble his r Did 
piety like his distinguish your early years? Have 
you kept yourselves unspotted from the world, 
when temptations to sensual indulgence were pecul- 
iarly plausible and urgent? Have riches as little 
attraction for you as they had for him ? Is your 
piety habitual, the same in all circumstances; and 
are you equally fervent and persevering in pray- 
er? Have you the same strong faith, and equally 
triumphant in the darkest times; and do you man- 
ifest the same deep humility, and unmoved firm- 
ness and resolution? 

Lastly, permit me to improve this subject, by 
urging all present, to imitate the conduct of Dan- 
iel. To induce you to this, consider what an un- 
speakable honor, and privilege it is, to be greatly 
beloved of God. It is the highest honor and hap- 
piness to which a creature can arrive. It includes 
every thing, which creatures can possibly desire; 
for, if God love us, then all things are ours, all 
things must work together for our good, and noth- 
ing can do us any real injury; for, says the Apos- 
tle, if God be for us, who can be against us? O 
then, if you love life, if you love happiness, if you 
love yourselves, be persuaded to copy the example 
of Daniel. Let those of you who are young, begin 
early, like him, to seek after the Lord God of 
your fathers, and remember your Creator in the 
days of your youth. Begin from this day to cry 
unto him, My father, thou art the guide of my 
youth. Let those who have lost this precious sea- 
son, remember that it is not yet too late, and 
strive to redeem the time which they have wasted, 
by double watchfulness, zeal and diligence. Above 
all, let those who profess to be the people of God, 
consider their peculiar obligations, to imitate this 



212 



CHARACTER OF DANIEL. 



ancient worthy. Would to God, my professing 
friends, you could be prevailed upon to feel the 
force of these obligations. Would to God, that 
every member of this church were a Daniel, in 
weanedness from the world, in humility, in reso- 
lution, in faith, and in prayer. How would reli- 
gion then revive and flourish among us. How 
would gainsayers be confounded. How would our 
hearts be encouraged, and God be glorified. How 
would your own souls rejoice. My Christian 
friends, why will not each of you be a Daniel? 
Are there no motives, no considerations, which 
will rouse you to exertion? Is there nothing in 
your natures, on which we can operate; no spark 
of holy ambition, of sacred zeal, which can be blown 
up into a flame? O that we could breathe a di- 
vine, celestial ardor, into your souls, and fire you 
with inextinguishable, insatiable desires, after 
growth in grace. O that we could persuade you 
to pursue religion, with that patient, zealous, ha- 
bitual, unwearied diligence, and resolution, with 
which you pursue the things of this world. Then 
should we see our wishes realized; then would this 
church be as a crown of glory, in the hand of the 
Lord, and as a royal diadem, in the hands of our 
God: then would there not only be some, but many, 
among us, to whom angels might say, Fear not, 
but be strong, O ye, who are greatly beloved of 
your God. 



SERMON XIIL 



OUR OBLIGATIONS TO GOD AND MEN. 

Mark xii, 17. 

Render to Cesar the things that are Cesar's and 
to God the things that are God's. 

At the period of our Saviour's residence on 
earth, the Jews were greatly divided in opinion, 
respecting the lawfulness of paying tribute to the 
Roman emperors, under whose government they 
were. The Pharisees, prompted by ambition, 
and a wish to obtain popularity, earnestly con- 
tended that, as the Jewish nation were the pecu- 
liar people of God, they ought not to submit or 
pay tribute to a heathen power. The Herodians, 
as is generally supposed, maintained that, in their 
present circumstances, it was not only necessary 
but lawful. In this dispute, the common people 
sided with the Pharisees, while all who wished to 
secure the favor of the Roman government, took 
part with the Herodians. In these circumstan- 
ces, the enemies of our Lord flattered themselves 
that by proposing to him this much disputed ques- 



£14 



OUR OBLIGATIONS 



lion, they should infallibly draw him into a snare. 
Should he decide in favor of the lawfulness of pay- 
ing tribute, they could represent him to the peo- 
ple as an enemy to their liberties, and thus excite 
against him their indignation. Should he, on the 
other hand, assert that to pay tribute was unlaw- 
ful, they could accuse him to the Roman Gover- 
nor, as a mover of sedition. The plot was art- 
fully laid, and its execution artfully conducted ; 
but in vain did human craftiness attempt to cir- 
cumvent divine wisdom. Instead of directly re- 
plying to their question, our Saviour called for 
a piece of money, and asked, whose image and 
superscription it bore. They said Cesar's. Ren- 
der then, said he, to Cesar the things that are 
Cesar's, and to God, the things that are God's. 

The spirit of this passage requires us to re- 
gard the rights of all beings as sacred, and to 
give them all what is theirs ; or, as it is else- 
where expressed, to render to all their dues ; tri- 
bute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom cus- 
tom, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor 
is due. This important practical truth, we now 
propose to consider. I do not conceive that it re- 
quires any proof. You will, I doubt not, readily 
acknowledge, that we are bound to render to ev- 
ery being, what is his just due. Ail that is ne- 
cessary, then, is to show what is due to the several 
beings with whom we are connected. In attempt- 
ing to do this, I shall show, 

I. What is due to God, and 

II. What is due to men from each of us. 

I. What is due to God; or, what are the 
things, the property of God, which our Saviour 
here requires us to render him. 

The question may be answered very briefly; in 
one word; and that word is all; for it is very 



TO GOD AND MEN. 



215 



easy to show that all things are in the most per- 
fect sense the property of God. No right of pro- 
perty can be more perfect than that which results 
from creation, and surely no one present will deny 
that all things were created by him. Agreeably 
he claims them all. The earth is the Lord's and 
the fulness thereof; the world and all that dwell 
therein, for he founded and established it. The 
silver, he says, is mine, and the gold is mine; 
mine is every beast of the forest, and the cattle 
upon a thousand hills. Of course, we, and all that 
we possess are God's property, more strictly so 
than any thing which we call our own is our pro- 
perty, and he claims it all. But general remarks 
do not affect us. It is therefore necessary to de- 
scend to particulars, and mention separately the 
things that are God's, and which he requires us 
to render to him. 

1 . Our souls with all their faculties, are the 
property of God. He is the father of our spirits. 
Glorify God, says the voice of inspiration, in your 
spirits which are his. If any of you hesitate to 
acknowledge the justice of his claim to your souls, 
look at them for a moment. Contemplate their 
immortality, their wonderful faculties, the under- 
standing, the will, the imagination, the memory > 
and then say, whose image and superscription do 
they bear? Who gave you these faculties? Who 
endowed them with immortality? Must it not be 
the king immortal, the only wise God, to whom it 
is owing that there is a spirit in man ; who has 
given us more understanding than the beasts of 
the field, and made us wiser than the fowls of 
heaven? Our souls then, with all their faculties, 
are his, and to him they ought to be given. Is it 
asked, what is implied in giving our souls to God? 



ti6 



OUR OBLIGATIONS 



I answer, we give them to him when we employ 
all their faculties in his service; in performing the 
work which he has assigned us. We give them 
to him when our understandings are diligently em- 
ployed in discovering his will; when our memories 
retain it, our hearts love it, our wills submit to it, 
and the whole inner man obeys it. This is what 
is implied in the first and great command, thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy strength. 

2. Our bodies are the property of God. As 
he is the Father of our spirits, so also is he the for- 
mer of our bodies. Thine eyes, says the psalm- 
ist, did see my substance, yet being imperfect; 
and in thy book all my members were written, 
when as yet there were none of them. Thy 
hands, says Job, have made me and fashioned me 
round about; thou hast clothed me with skin and 
flesh and fenced me with bones and sinews. The 
same work God has performed for each of us. Hence 
the Apostle exhorts us to glorify God with our 
bodies which are his, and to present them as living 
sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable in his sight, 
which is our reasonable service. Rendering to 
God his own implies then the giving of our bodies 
to him. This is done when we employ our mem- 
bers as instruments of righteousness unto holiness. 
It is neglected when we use them as instruments 
of unrighteousness unto sin. 

3. Our time is God's property. This is indeed 
implied in the remarks which have already been 
made. Our time is that part of duration which is 
measured by our existence. But during every 
moment of our existence, we are the property of 



TO GOD AND MEN". 



217 



God. To his service, therefore, every moment of 
our time ought to be consecrated. If, at any 
moment, we are not serving him, we, during that 
moment, withhold from him ourselves. 

4. All our knowledge and literary acquisitions 
are God's property. They were acquired by us 
in the use of that time, and of those faculties 
which are his; and, of course, he may justly claim 
them as his own. And we find, that he does claim 
them. He compares our faculties and his other 
gifts to a sum of money, entrusted by a master to 
his servants, to be employed and increased for his 
benefit. And by the punishment which that mas- 
ter inflicted on a slothful, unfaithful servant, who 
neglected to improve his talents, he shows us what 
will be the doom of those who do not cultivate 
their faculties, or who do not consecrate to him, 
the fruits of that cultivation. Indeed, it is dif- 
ficult to conceive how we can justify ourselves in 
acquiring knowledge, unless with a view to serve 
him more effectually. If it be not sought with this 
view, it must be sought merely for the purpose of 
gratifying, enriching, or aggrandizing ourselves; a 
motive to action, of which God does not approve, 
and which is in direct opposition to the letter and 
spirit of our text. 

5. Our temporal possessions are God's proper- 
ty. They are all, either the gifts of his provi- 
dence, or, as was remarked respecting our litera- 
ry acquisitions, were obtained by the use of time 
and faculties which belong to him. They are his 
also by the right, of creation, a right, as has been 
observed, of all rights the most perfect. Agree- 
ably, we find that men are frequently represented 
in the scriptures, not as the owners of their pos- 
sessions, but merely as stewards, to whose care 

19 



218 



OUR OBLIGATIONS 



the Lord of all things has entrusted a portion of 
his property, to be employed agreeably to his di- 
rections. These directions allow us to employ 
such a portion of the property thus entrusted to 
us, in supplying our own wants, as is really neces- 
sary to our support and happiness, or as is con- 
sistent with the rules of temperance and the de- 
mands of benevolence. But, if any part of it be 
spent in gratifying what St. John calls the lust of 
the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life, 
it is devoted to a purpose for which our master 
never designed it, and he will consider and treat 
us as unfaithful stewards. 

Lastly; our infuience is God's property. This 
follows as a necessary consequence from the pre- 
ceding remarks. All our influence over others 
results either from our natural faculties, our know- 
ledge, or our wealth; all of which have been shown 
to be the property of God. Of course, the influ- 
ence which we derive from any of these circum- 
stances, is his also, and ought ever to be exerted 
in promoting his honor and interest in the world. 
It appears, then, that rendering to God the things 
that are God's, implies consecrating to his service, 
our souls, our bodies, our time, our knowledge, our 
possessions and our influence. He who withholds 
from God any of these things, or any part of them, 
does not comply with the precept in our text. 

II. I proceed, as was proposed, to show what 
things are due from us to men. At first view it 
may seem as if nothing were due; or, at least, 
that we have nothing which we can render to 
them; for if, as has been shown, we, and all that 
we possess are the property of God, what remains 
for men? I answer, if God had not required us to 
render something to men, nothing would be due to 



TO GOD AND MEN, 



219 



them, nor should we have the smallest right to 
bestow any thing upon them. But as God is the 
sole and sovereign proprietor of every thing that 
exists, he has a perfect right to say how it shall 
be disposed of. He has a right to appoint such 
receivers as he pleases, and he has in part appoint- 
ed our fellow-creatures to be receivers of a large 
portion of what we owe him. To this portion, 
they have, therefore, a just claim. And when we 
regard this claim, when we give any thing to men, 
in compliance with the will of God, he considers 
it as given to him. The question, what is due 
from us to our fellow creatures, is then equivalent 
to the inquiry, what are those things which God 
requires us to give to men, and to which they have 
therefore a right; a right, founded in his revealed 
will. This question I now propose to answer. 

1. All men, without exception, have a right to 
our love; a right to expect that we should love 
them as we love ourselves; and that as we have 
opportunity, we should do to them, as we should wish 
them, in a change of situation, to do to us. This, 
as I need not inform you, God expressly requires. 
Love thy neighbor as thyself. Whatsoever things 
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
so to them. Nor are our enemies to be excepted; 
for, says our Saviour, Love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you; do good to them that hate 
you, and pray for them that despitefully use you 
and persecute you. All men then, so far as they 
are known by us, have a right to our love, and to 
all the kind offices which love would prompt us to 
perform. Every man, who dies without having 
done all the world, all the good which it was in 
his power to do, dies in debt to the world, or to 
the world's Creator. Withhold not good, says 



220 



OUR OBLIGATIONS 



the voice of inspiration, from him to whom it is 
due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it. 
Do good to all men, as ye have opportunity. To 
him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to 
him it is sin. Much more then have our fellow- 
creatures a right to expect that we should do 
them no injury. They have a right to our good 
opinion, till they forfeit it by misconduct. They 
have a right to expect that we refrain from speak- 
ing evil of them, except when duty requires it; to 
expect that persons, reputation and property, 
should be in our hands as safe as in their own. It 
is scarcely necessary to add, that all with whom 
we transact any business, have a right to be 
treated with the most perfect fairness and hon- 
esty. Love will, of course, lead to this. Jus- 
tice requires it. God commands it. Let no man, 
he says, overreach or defraud his brother in any 
matter; for the Lord is the avenger of all such. 
Now the man who knowingly takes or retains the 
smallest portion of another's property, is dishonest, 
unjust, and exposes himself to this threatening. 

Xor will it avail anything for him to plead that 
he takes no more than the law gives him; for hu- 
man laws are necessarily imperfect; and their ap- 
plication must, in many cases, be still more so. 
They often allow men to take, or to retain that, 
to which, by the law of God, they have no right. 
And remember, that we are to be tried, not by 
the laws of men, but by the law of God. He 
then, who, in any case, takes more than the law 
of God, the law of love allows, or retains what 
that law forbids him to retain, is condemned by it. 
The rust of his unlawful gain, says an apostle, 
shall witness against him, and eat his flesh, as it 
were fire. Among such unlawful gains, must 



TO GOD AND MEN, 



221 



included all that is acquired by defrauding the pub- 
lic revenues. The only difference between de- 
frauding the public and defrauding an individual, 
is, that in the former case, we cheat many, and 
in the latter, only one. The sum which each man 
pays the public, is paid for a valuable considera- 
tion. It is paid for the secure enjoyment of life, 
reputation, liberty and property. If one man 
pays less than he ought for this purpose, others 
must pay more, and then they are defrauded. 

2. To all whom God has made our superiors, 
we owe obedience, submission and respect. As 
subjects, we are bound to obey, honor and pray 
for our rulers. Let every soul of you be subject 
to the higher powers. Submit to every ordinance 
of man for the Lord's sake. Thou shalt not 
speak evil of the ruler of thy people. Pray for 
all that are in authority. As children we are re- 
quired to honor and obey our parents. But as 
this duty has been recently under consideration, it 
is needless to enlarge. Servants are required to 
be obedient to their masters with all reverence, 
not answering again, and to account their masters 
worthy of all honor; and they, adds the apostle, 
who have believing masters, let them not despise 
them, because they are brethren, but rather do 
them service because they are faithful. We may 
add that the aged, considered merely as such, 
have a claim to respect. Thou shalt rise up, says 
Jehovah, before the hoary head and honor the 
face of the old man. 

3. To our inferiors we owe kindness, gentle- 
ness and condescension. They have a right to 
expect that their feelings should not be needlessly 
wounded, and that regard should be paid to their 
comfort and convenience. Parents provoke not 

*19 



OUR OBLIGATIONS 



your children to wrath. Masters forbear threat- 
ning. Let all condescend to men of low estate. 
The poor and afflicted have special claims. The 
afflicted have a right to our sympathy; the indus- 
trious poor to pecuniary relief. With respect to 
this duty, many indulge erroneous opinions. They 
allow that we ought to be just and honest, to pay 
our debts, but with respect to liberality to the 
poor, they seem to imagine that we are left at lib- 
erty to do as we please. But if the law of God be 
adopted as our rule we shall find that it requires 
charity no less than justice. We shall find that 
we owe a debt to the industrious poor, which, 
though they cannot, strictly speaking, demand, 
God requires us to pay. In his sight, the man 
who is not charitable to the poor, is dishonest and 
unjust. But with respect to the indolent poor, the 
decision of scripture is, that if any man will not 
work, neither shall he eat. 

4. Those of us who are members of Christ's 
visible church owe to each other the performance 
of all the duties, which result from our connex- 
ion. We are bound to watch over our professing 
brethren, to admonish them when needful, and to 
seek in all things the peace and welfare of the 
church. We are also under special obligations to 
promote their temporal interest; for while the 
scriptures command us to do good to all men, they 
add, specially to those who are of the household 
of faith. 

Lastly; there are some things which we owe 
our families and connexions. As husbands and 
wives, we owe each other the strict and faithful 
performance of the promises which we made, when 
we were united. As parents, we owe our children 
the best education for this world and the next, 



TO GOD AND MEN. 



223 



which it is in our power to give them. As heads 
of families, we are bound to provide for their 
wants, to the utmost of our power, for he who neg- 
lects to do this, has denied the faith and is "worse 
than an infidel. 

Thus, my hearers, have I stated the principal 
things which we owe to God, and to men, and the 
payment of which is implied in rendering to both the 
things which are theirs. The justice of this state- 
ment, I think no one can deny, who does not 
deny the authority of the scriptures. On this 
ground I am prepared to meet any man, and de- 
fend the truth of every position which has been 
advanced. It only remains to improve the sub- 
ject. 

1. In view of this subject, how great, how in- 
calculable is the debt which we have contracted, 
both to God and to men. All the things which 
have been enumerated justly belong to them, and 
ought to have been paid them, from the first mo- 
ment of our moral existence. But surely I need 
not attempt to prove that we have not paid them. 
We have not even rendered to men, the things 
that are men's; much less have we rendered to 
God the things that are his. Every day, every 
hour of our waking existence, we have withheld 
something both from God and from men, which 
was due to them. Every day and hour, therefore, 
our debt to him is increasing. Well then may 
our Saviour represent us as owing a debt of ten 
thousand talents. Well may God accuse us of 
robbing and defrauding him. Will a man, says 
he, rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. How 
vain, how false then, are the pretences of those 
who assert that they have injured no one, that 
they pay every one his own; and how presumptu- 



OUR OBLIGATIONS 



ous are the hopes which they build upon this asser- 
tion! They make all religion to consist in paying 
their pecuniary debts, and in avoiding any instance 
of dishonesty, which is forbidden by human laws. 
They deny or forget that God has any rights; 
they think it neither unjust nor dishonest to with- 
hold from him his property. But, my hearers, 
though we forget God's rights, he will not; nor 
will he suffer them to be disregarded with impu- 
nity. He knows how to claim and to receive 
what is his. He has death ready to arrest us. — 
He has an eternal prison from which there is no 
escape, in which multitudes of unfaithful stewards 
are now confined, and in which he will confine us, 
till the uttermost farthing be paid; unless we can 
find a surety, able and willing to take our debts 
upon himself. Hence, 

2. We may learn our need of an interest in 
the Saviour, and the impossibility of being saved 
without him. We evidentty cannot discharge our 
past debts. Should we, from this moment, be- 
come perfect, and render both to God and men all 
that is theirs, it would not prevent our debt from 
increasing. It could make no satisfaction for the 
past. It could cancel no part of the debt which 
we have already contracted, and for that we should 
still be answerable, and must still be condemned. 
In this view the situation of every sinner is des- 
perate. He is loaded with a debt which he is un- 
able to pay, which is constantly increasing, and 
which he must discharge or perish. But though 
we have thus destroyed ourselves, in Christ there 
is help. He becomes surety for all that believe 
in him; takes upon himself the debt, which they 
can never discharge, and thus sets their souls at 
liberty. By the assistance of his grace, and 



TO GOD AND MEN. 



225 



through him as their mediator, they are enabled to 
present themselves to God, living-, holy and accept- 
able sacrifices. This is the way and the only 
way of salvation. 

And now, my hearers, what shall we say to 
these things? I make no appeal to your passions. 
I appeal to your understandings and consciences, 
and ask, is it not just that God should require us 
to render to him and to men, what is due to each 
respectively? Is it not just that he should punish 
those who neglect to do this? Have we not all, 
even the best of us, neglected to do this? Was it 
not infinitely good and merciful in God to provide 
a surety to discharge debts, which we might most 
justly have been called on to pay! Are we not un- 
der infinite obligations to him, who consented to 
become our surety, and who to save our forfeited 
lives^ laid down his own? And do not reason, con- 
science, and a regard to our own happiness, com- 
bine with scripture in urging us, to accept the of- 
fers of this divine Benefactor; and constrained by 
his love, to live henceforth to him and not to our- 
selves? To these questions, my friends, there can 
be but one true, reasonable, scriptural answer. 
Practically give them that answer, and your souls 
shall live. 



SERMON XIV, 



PARTICIPATION IN OTHER MEN'S 
SINS. 

1 Timothy v, 22. 
Neither be 'partaker of other men's sins. 

In this chapter the apostle gives Timothy par- 
ticular directions respecting; the duties of his pas- 
toral office; and solemnly charges him before God 
and the elect angels, to observe these directions; 
not preferring one man before another, and do- 
ing nothing by partiality. One of the most im- 
portant of his official duties consisted in ordaining 
other men to the work of the ministry by prayer 
and the imposition of hands. As it was of the 
greatest importance that none should be introduced 
into the ministry who were not suitably qualified, 
the apostle particularly enjoined it upon him to use 
great care and circumspection in examining and 
setting apart persons for this sacred office; and 
enforced a compliance with this injunction by inti- 
mating to him, that, should he neglect it, he would 
participate in the guilt of every unworthy charac- 



PARTICIPATION IN OTHER'S SINS. 227 

ter, on whom lie should carelessly lay hands. Lay 
hands, says he, suddenly on no man, neither be 
partaker of other men's sins, but keep thyself 
pure. 

My hearers, though this caution was originally 
addressed to an individual with reference to the 
duties of a particular office, it is of universal ap- 
plication. In many other parts of scripture we 
are all indirectly, if not directly, cautioned to be- 
ware of partaking in the guilt of others; and in- 
troducing improper characters into the ministry, is 
by no means the only way in which a disregard to 
this caution may be shown. In every state of so- 
ciety, and especially in such a state as exists in a 
civilized country, under a form of government like 
ours, we are connected with our fellow creatures 
so intimately, and by such numerous ties, that 
there are very many ways in which we may be- 
come accomplices, or at least partakers, in their 
sins; and, indeed, without great care and watch- 
fulness, it is impossible to avoid being so. In con- 
sequence of these connexions, the sins of an indi- 
vidual become the sins of many, and there is no 
doubt, that, in the sight of God, a large propor- 
tion of every man's guilt is contracted by sharing 
in the guilt of others. This being the case, the 
subject which we have chosen is, I conceive, pe- 
culiarly suitable for a day of public humiliation, 
fasting and prayer. On such a day, we are cal- 
led upon to humble ourselves before God, not only 
for our personal sins, but for all the sins of others 
in which we have made ourselves partakers. In 
discoursing on this subject, I shall endeavor to 
show token ive make ourselves partakers in other 
men's sins; and to state some of the reasons 
which should induce us to guard against partak- 
ing in them. 



228 



PARTICIPATION IN 



I. When do we make ourselves partakers m 
other men's sins? I answer, generally speaking 
we partake in the guilt of all those sins which we 
tempt or assist others to commit; of all the sins 
which we voluntarily or carelessly occasion by our 
influence or example; of all the sins which we 
might but do not prevent; and of all the sins 
against which we do not bear testimony when we 
have opportunity to do it. On each of these par- 
ticulars it would be easy to enlarge and to con- 
firm our observations by appropriate quotations 
from the scriptures, but these quotations will be 
more properly introduced in succeeding parts of 
our discourse. Now from these observations it 
follows, 

1. That ministers make themselves partakers 
in the sins of their people, when those sins are oc- 
casioned by their own negligence, by their exam- 
ple, or by unfaithfulness in the discharge of their 
official duties. But why do I mention this to you ? 
Not because you are in danger of partaking in 
this way of other men's sins, but because my sub- 
ject naturally leads to this remark; because I am 
willing to preach to myself as well as to you, and 
because this remark suggests a sufficient excuse, if 
excuse be necessary, for the pointed observations 
which 1 may be called to make in the progress of 
this discourse; for from this remark it follows that, 
if you are in danger of sharing in the guilt of 
other men's sins, it is my duty, as a minister of 
Christ, to warn you plainly of that danger, and 
to point out the way in which you may avoid it; 
and should I neglect thus to warn you, I should 
myself share in the guilt of all your sins, and of 
all the sins of which you make yourselves par- 
takers. Now this I can by no means consent t& 



OTHER MEN'S SINS. 



229 



do. I am willing to participate in all your sorrows 
and afflictions, but I am not willing to share in 
jour sins. I have enough and more than enough 
of my own to answer for, without participating in 
yours. Let this be my apology, if in this, as 
well as in my other discourses, I use great plain- 
ness of speech. 

2. Parents participate in the sins of their chil- 
dren, when they occasion, and when they might 
have prevented them. That this remark is per 
fectly just, when applied to such parents as set be- 
fore their children a vicious example, I presume 
none will deny. Should a parent voluntarily pain 
the bodies of his children, or communicate to 
them a dangerous and infectious disorder, all 
would unite in reprobating his unnatural conduct. 
But is it not as abominable for a parent to pain 
the minds, as the bodies of his children ?. And can 
any poison operate upon their bodies more fatally 
or more certainly, than the vicious example of a 
parent will operate upon their minds? If he be 
intemperate, or indolent, or profane, will not his 
children, unless a gracious providence prevent, 
most probably resemble him? And may he not be 
most justly considered and punished as a partaker 
of their sins; sins, which come, if I may so ex- 
press it, recommended, and, as it were, sanctified 
to them by the example of those, whom God and 
nature had constituted the guides of their youthful 
steps? 

But while almost all unite in justly execrating 
the wretch, who thus poisons the souls of his un- 
suspecting offspring, there is another class of pa- 
rents, who, though perhaps equally guilty in the 
judgment of God, meet with scarcely a censure 
from the lips of man. I mean those who set their 
20 



230 



PARTICIPATION IN 



children an irreligious example. This class in- 
cludes every parent who is not himself truly and 
exemplarily pious. And why should this class be 
thought less guilty, than that already mentioned? 
Is not irreligion as surely destructive to the soul 
as immorality ? Are not impenitence, and unbelief, 
and insensibility to religion, as positively forbidden, 
and as severely censured in the word of God, as 
are intemperance or profanity or theft? Will not 
every impenitent or irreligious character be as cer- 
tainly doomed, as a robber or murderer? Why 
then is an irreligious, less guilty than an immoral 
parent? But many, who belong to this class, will 
reply, we teach our children to treat religion and 
its institutions with respect. We speak of the 
scriptures to them with reverence, and bring them 
with us to the house of God on the sabbath. — 
True, you do so, but they can perceive but too 
clearly that you do not cordially love the Bible, or 
honor its Author, or comply with the instructions 
of the sanctuary. They there hear many duties 
inculcated which they do not see you practice. 
They see, they hear nothing of religion in your 
families, they see you turn your backs upon the 
Lord's table; they see you live without God in the 
world; they see you anxious for their success in 
this life, but perceive no concern for their happi- 
ness in the next. Now what shall prevent them 
from following your example? And what shall save 
them from endless perdition if they do? And by 
what mode of reasoning will you prove, should 
they perish, that you were not partakers of their 
sins, and accessaries to their eternal ruin? My 
friends, it will be terrible to hear a ruined child 
exclaim at the last day, Lord I lived as my pa- 
rents taught me to do, I trod in their steps, I omit- 



OTHER MEN'S SINS. 



231 



ted nothing which they prescribed ; but they led 
me along, they were the cause of my sins, and 
of my destruction. My hearers, if it be true that 
he, who provides not for the temporal wants of his 
own house, hath denied the faith and is worse than 
an infidel, what shall be said of those parents, 
who, instead of providing for the spiritual neces- 
sities of their children, voluntarily occasion their 
eternal ruin? 

But further, parents partake in the guilt of their 
children's sins when they might and do not pre- 
vent them. If it be true, as the scriptures assert, 
that a child, trained up in the way he should go, 
will not depart from it when he is old, then it fol- 
lows that, whenever children do forsake the right 
way, it must be ascribed, either wholly or in part, 
to the negligence of their parents. Either their 
parents did not warn, and teach, and restrain 
them as they ought, or they did not pray for a 
blessing on their endeavors with sufficient earnest- 
ness, or they did not seek for wisdom from above 
to enable themselves to perform parental duties in 
the most wise and prudent manner. It is proba- 
bly in this last respect that christian parents are 
most deficient. They do not properly realize how 
much heavenly wisdom is necessary to the right 
education of children; and, therefore, though they 
warn and pray for their children, yet they do not pray 
sufficiently for wisdom for themselves. This omis- 
sion renders many parents, whose conduct is oth- 
erwise unexceptionable, partakers in the sins of 
their children. And it is necessary to remind you 
that, by partaking in the sins of our children, we 
may become partakers in the sins of their chil- 
dren, and their children's children. They will, 
probably, unless divine grace prevent, educate 



PARTICIPATION IN 



their children as we educated them; and their 
children, when they become parents, will follow 
their example, and where the spreading mischief 
will end, God only knows. How careful, how 
diiigent, how prayerful, then, should parents be. — 
Every parent should consider himself as a foun- 
tain, from which proceed streams, that will grow 
broader and deeper as they run, and should recol- 
lect, that it depends on himself, under God, whe- 
ther these streams shall prove poisonous or salu- 
tary, convey virtue and happiness, or vice and 
misery, wherever they flow. Remember the story 
of Eli. His sons made themselves vile, and he 
restrained them not, and his negligence not only 
made him a partaker in their guilt and punishment, 
but entailed the judgments of God on his descend- 
ants, to the latest generation. 

3. The remarks, which have been made respect- 
ing parents, will apply, though perhaps somewhat 
less forcibly, to masters and guardians, and all who 
are concerned in the government and education of 
youth. Human laws, you are sensible, make 
masters answerable, in many instances, for the 
conduct of their apprentices and servants, and the 
law of God does the same. It is a maxim in 
both, that what a man does by another, he does 
by himself. If a master allows his servants or 
dependants to use profane language, to neglect the 
institutions of religion, to profane the sabbath, to 
spend his leisure hours with vicious companions, or 
to indulge in any other wicked practices, when he 
might prevent it, it is nearly the same in the sight 
of God, as if he were guilty of the same things 
himself ; and he will be considered as partaking 
in their sins. You might almost as well spend 
this day in the streets or in places of amusement, 



OTHER MEN 5 S SINS, 



233 



in idleness and sin, as suffer your children, ser- 
vants or dependants to do it. Hear the charac- 
ter and blessing of Abraham, ye parents, mas- 
ters, and guardians. And the Lord said, shall I 
hide from Abraham the thing that I do? seeing 
that Abraham shall become a great and mighty 
nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be 
blessed in him? For I know him that he will com- 
mand his children and his household after him, and 
they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice 
and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon 
Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 

4. Churches become partakers of the sins of 
any individual member, when these sins are occa- 
sioned by a general neglect of brotherly watchful- 
ness and reproof, and when they are tolerated by 
the church in consequence of a neglect of church 
discipline. When this is the case the sins of an 
individual become the sins of a whole church. 
This is evident from Christ's epistles to the seven 
churches of Asia. He commends the Ephesian 
church because they could not bear them that were 
evil, while he severely reproves and threatens 
other churches for tolerating among them those 
things which he abhorred. In a similar manner 
St. Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for neg- 
lecting to excommunicate one of their members 
who was guilty of a notorious offence; and charges 
them to put away that wicked person. To these 
remarks we may add, that every member of a 
church makes himself a partaker of the known 
sins of his fellow members, when he neglects to 
bear testimony against their sins, and to use pro- 
per means for bringing them to repentance. 

5. We all make ourselves partakers in other 
men's sins, when we either imitate or in any other 

20* 



234 



PARTICIPATION IN 



way countenance and encourage them. In tin's 
way the whole human race make themselves par- 
takers of the sin of our first parents. They im- 
itate them in desiring forbidden fruit, in disobey- 
ing God's commands, in endeavoring to hide them- 
selves from his presence, and in attempting to ex- 
cuse their sinful conduct when called to an account 
for it. By this conduct all men tacitly justify our 
first parents, and do in effect say, had we been in 
their place we would have acted as they did. — 
Thus, to use a law term, they become accessaries 
after the fact. In a similar way do persons often 
make themselves partakers of the sin of their 
wicked ancestors. They imitate and then justify 
their conduct. An attention to this truth will 
show us why God threatens to visit the iniquities 
of the fathers upon the children, and why he often 
executes this threatening by punishing one genera- 
tion for the sins of those who have gone before 
them. He does so because those, whom he thus 
punishes, imitate and thus participate in the sin of 
their ancestors. This is evident from the case of 
the Jews in our Saviour's time. Behold, says he, 
I send you prophets and wise men and scribes; 
ami some of them ye will kill and crucify, and 
some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues; 
and persecute from city to city; that upon you may 
come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, 
from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of 
Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew be- 
tween the temple and the altar. Verily, I say 
unto you, it shall all be required of this generation. 
Now the reason assigned for requiring of that 
generation all the righteous blood shed by their an- 
cestors, is, that they imitated and thus justified 
their conduct. Their fathers murdered the pro- 



OTHER MEN 9 S SINS. 



235 



phets, and they did the same to Christ and his 
apostles; thus making the sin of every preceding 
generation their own. 

In the same way we may make ourselves par- 
takers of the sins of our cotemporaries. When 
a province rises up in rebellion against its sove- 
reign, every rebel partakes in the guilt of his fel- 
low rebels, since by his example he encourages 
and justifies them. So in this rebellious world., 
every impenitent, unbelieving sinner, partakes in 
the guilt of all other sinners. In justifying him- 
self he justifies them, by persisting in sin he en- 
courages them to do the same, and thus in effect 
makes their sins his own. 

6. Members of civil communities partake of 
all the sins which they might, but do not prevent. 
When a person has power to prevent any sin, he 
is left to choose whether that sin shall, or shall 
not be committed. If he neglects to prevent it, 
it is evident that he chooses it should be commit- 
ted, and by thus choosing it he does in effect make 
it his own. He shows that he does not hate sin, 
that he has no concern for the glory of God, but 
is willing that God should be dishonored and of- 
fended. If he is deterred from attempting to pre- 
vent sin by fears that he shall draw hatred or | 
trouble or expense upon himself, it proves that he 
loves himself more than God; and that he is more 
concerned for his own interests, than for the wel- 
fare of society. Besides, all allow that men ought, 
if possible, to prevent gross crimes and public ca- 
lamities, and even human laws would condemn as 
an accomplice the man who should witness a mur- 
der or robbery without preventing it or giving an 
alarm, when he had power to do it. And why 
then may not God justly condemn us as partakers 



£36 



PARTICIPATION IN 



of all the sin which we might have prevented!— 
My friends, whether you think it just or not, he 
will do it; and you will hereafter be called to an 
account for all the violations of the sabbath, all 
the profanity, all the intemperance, all the vice of 
every kind of which you have made yourselves 
partakers by neglecting to employ those means for 
their prevention, which God and the laws of your 
country have put into your hands. 

7. If private citizens partake of all the sins 
which they might have prevented, much more do 
rulers and magistrates. To prevent and punish 
vice is the very object for which they are appoint- 
ed, the great duty of their office; their office is 
ordained of God, and they are required by him 
not to bear the sword in vain but to be a terror to 
evil doers, and a praise and encouragement to 
such as do well. To the faithful and impartial 
performance of this duty, their oath of office also 
binds them; and when they thus perform it, they 
are indeed what they are called and designed to 
be, ministers of God to us for good. But if they 
neglect their duty, violate their oaths, and prove 
false to God, they must answer to him for the in- 
calculable mischief which they will occasion; and 
all the sins, which they might have prevented, will 
be set down to their account. Next to the doom 
of unfaithful ministers, that of unfaithful rulers 
and magistrates will probably be most intolerable. 

Lastly: Subjects who have the privilege of 
choosing their own rulers and magistrates, make 
themselves partakers of all their sins, when they 
give their votes for vicious or irreligious charac- 
ters. I hope, my hearers, it is not necessary to 
assure you that this remark has no party political 
bearing. In making it I certainly do not mean to 



OTHER MEN'S SINS. 



237 



censure one party more than another, nor do I in- 
tend the most distant allusion to any of our rulers 
or magistrates; for I am taught not to speak evil 
of dignities. I merely state it as an abstract 
principle, which cannot be denied, without deny- 
ing the truth of scripture, that when we vote for 
vicious or irreligious men, knowing them or having 
good reason to suspect them to be such, we make 
ourselves partakers of all their sins. It is evi- 
dent that the case bears a great resemblance to 
that referred to in our text. If Timothy made 
himself a partaker of the sins of every unwor- 
thy character whom he carelessly admitted into 
the ministerial office, then we certainly make our- 
selves partakers of the sins of every improper 
character whom we voluntarily assist in appointing 
to any public office. But as many, even among 
good men, do not appear to think sufficiently of this 
truth, it may not be improper to insist upon it 
more particularly. 

In the first place, God has plainly described the 
characters whom we ought to choose for rulers and 
magistrates. Thou shalt provide out of all the 
people able men, such as fear God, men of truth,, 
and hating covetousness, and place such to be rul- 
ers. And again, he that ruleth over men must be 
just ruling in the fear of God. He has also told 
us, that when the righteous are in authority the 
people rejoice, but that when the wicked bear rule 
the people mourn. If then we choose different 
men for our rulers, we slight God's counsels and 
disobey his commands. 

Again: We are taught in the scriptures, that 
we must give an account to God of the manner in 
which we employ the talents and improve the priv- 
ileges with which he favors us. Now the right 



238 



PARTICIPATION IN 



of choosing our own rulers is undoubtedly a most 
precious privilege. This, I presume, you will 
readily acknowledge; for we frequently hear of 
the precious right of suffrage. Now what ac- 
count of this privilege can they give to God, who 
have abused it by assisting to place in authority 
such characters as were enemies to himself and 
his government, such characters as he had forbid- 
den us to appoint? 

Once more; rulers and magistrates are the ser- 
vants of the public. Now we have already re- 
minded you, that what a man does by his servant, 
he does by himself. If then we voluntarily assist 
in appointing vicious or irreligious rulers, we 
make ourselves partakers of all their sins, and 
must account for all the good which might have 
been done, had we chosen different characters. 

Thus have I attempted to show when we become 
partakers of other men's sins. If any think I 
have asserted more than I have proved, I reply, 
we meet with instances in the inspired writings, 
in which God punished ministers for the sins of 
their people, parents for the sins of their children, 
children for the sins of their parents, churches for 
the sins of individual members, rulers for the sins 
of their subjects, and subjects for the sins of their 
rulers. But surely he would punish none for the 
sins of other men, who had not made themselves 
partakers of those sins. These facts attended 
to are, therefore, a sufficient proof of all that we 
have advanced. 

I proceed, as was proposed, 

II. To state some of the reasons which should 
induce us to guard against partaking of other 
men's sins. The first reason which I shall men- 
tion is, that if we partake of their sins, we shall 



OTHER MEN ? S SINS. 



239 



share in their punishment. Hence when God was 
denouncing vengeance upon the mystical Babylon,, 
he says, come out of her, my people, that ye be 
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive 
not of her plagues. Hence, too, the many woes 
denounced against the companions of sinners of 
different classes. 

Another reason that should induce us to guard 
against this is, that we shall have sin enough 
of our own to answer for, without participating in 
the guilt of others. He who realizes what sin is ? 
what it is to answer for it, and how numerous and 
great are his own personal sins, will surely wish 
to avoid sharing in the transgressions of his fel- 
low sinners. But on this part of our subject^ 
time forbids us to enlarge, and requires us to has- 
ten to the improvement. 

In the former part of the day, my friends, I 
endeavored to make you acquainted with your own 
personal transgressions. I have now attempted 
to give you a knowledge of the additional guilt 
you may have contracted by partaking of the sins 
of others. And is there an individual present, 
who does not, in some of the ways which have 
been mentioned, partake of the sins of those 
around him? Look first, my friends, into your 
houses; reflect on the conduct of your children, 
servants, and apprentices, and see if there be no 
sins there which you might prevent. In the next 
place, look through the town; that it is full of sin 
you need not be told. The cry of it ascends not 
only into the ear of God, but into those of man. 
Among all the vices which provoke God, ruin men, 
demoralize society, and bring down the judgments 
of heaven, there is scarcely one which is not prac- 
tised among us. If a man wishes to indulge in 



240 



PARTICIPATION IN 



profanity, sabbath-breaking, intemperance, gam- 
ing, or debauchery, he knows where to find com- 
panions to countenance and assist him, and where 
to find places set apart on purpose for such abom- 
inations. Many of these vices stalk abroad among 
us, in open day. There is not virtue enough 
in the community to drive them back into their 
dens, or to make them hide their heads. The in- 
habitants of our moral pest houses are suffered to 
range at large, and spread the contagion of their 
vices. No wonder, then, that our children inhale 
the infection; and that many of the rising gener- 
ation promise to outstrip in wickedness every gen- 
eration that has gone before them. If it should, 
God have mercy on our country; for surely noth- 
ing but infinite mercy can save it from destruction! 
Now, my friends, it becomes us to inquire to whom 
is the prevalence of these vices to be ascribed? If 
we have no laws to restrain them, then the blame 
must rest upon our legislators; and those who 
choose them are partakers in their guilt. But if 
we have laws to restrain these abominations, then 
the blame must rest on those whose business it is 
to execute the laws; and all who prevent, all who 
do not assist in the execution of these laws, must 
share in the blame. For my own part, I am de- 
termined that, if loud and repeated testimonies 
against these things can prevent it, none of this 
blood shall rest with me; and I advise every one, 
who has any concern for his own soul, or for his 
eternal happiness, to adopt the same resolution; 
for it will be no light thing to be found partakers, 
at the judgment day, of the enormous sins which 
are committed in this town. Happy will it then 
be for him who can truly say, I am clear from the 
blood and from the guilt of all men. 



OTHER MENS' SINS, 



241 



2. It is impossible not to perceive how com- 
pletely our subject justifies the conduct of those 
much insulted individuals, who have voluntarily as- 
sociated for the purpose of assisting in executing 
the laws, and suppressing vice and immorality 
among us. Their God, the God whom our fa- 
thers worshipped, and whom we their degenerate 
sons profess to worship, commands them not to be 
partakers in other men's sins. They have obeyed 
the command, and what has been their reward? — 
The same which all the faithful servants of God 
in all ages have received from those whose wel- 
fare they labored to promote, by separating them 
from their beloved sins. They have been ridicul- 
ed, insulted, turned out of those seats of office, 
which they honorably and faithfully filled; and are 
indebted wholly to a good Providence, and to the 
laws which he has given, for their preservation 
from worse evils. Many of you, my hearers, have 
calmly sat by and seen this done, if you have not 
assisted in doing it. And, my friends, those who 
thus revile and oppose the friends of virtue and 
religion, would treat Christ and his apostles in a 
similar manner, were they now on earth, 

^ b£ 4£* ^£f 

*iv *?y* "W 1 Tv* 



21 



SERMON XV, 



PRAYER FOR RULERS, 



1 Timothy ii, 1, 2. 

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications \ 
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be 
made for all men; for kings, and all that are 
in authority, that ice may lead a quiet and 
peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty. 

It appears from the preceding chapter, that 
Timothy had been left, by St. Paul, at Ephesus; 
to watch over the church in that city, and to guard 
against the introduction of error, by false teachers. 
In this chapter, the apostle gives him particular 
directions, respecting some of the social and rela- 
tive duties, which were to be enjoined upon all, who 
professed to be the disciples of Christ. Among 
these duties, he mentions first in place, as first in 
importance, that of intercession; or praying for 
others. I exhort, says he, that, first of all, sup- 
plications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of 
thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and all 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



243 



that are in authority. It is evident that persons 
in authority are included in the direction to pray 
for all men. It appears, however, that the apos- 
tle did not think it sufficient, to inculcate the duty of 
praying for them, in this general way only. He 
felt that it was necessary to make a particular 
mention of this duty, in a clause by itself. He 
does, in effect, say; While I exhort you to pray 
for all men, I urge you, especially to pray for 
those who possess the supreme power, and for all 
that are in authority. He thus evidently inti- 
mates, that, in addition to the general reasons, 
which should induce us to pray for all men, there 
are particular reasons, why we should pray for 
those who rule. I propose, in the present dis- 
course, to state the reasons, why we should pray, 
with peculiar frequency and importunity, for all who 
are invested with authority. 

1 . We ought to pray for those who are in au- 
thority, more frequently and earnestly than for 
other men, because they, more than other men, 
need our prayers. In other words, they need a 
more than ordinary share of that wisdom and 
grace, which God alone can bestow; and which he 
seldom, or never bestows, except in answer to 
prayer. This is evident, in the first place, from 
the fact, that they have a more than ordinary 
share of duties to perform. All the duties, which 
God requires of other men, considered as sinful, 
immortal, and accountable creatures, he requires 
of rulers. It is incumbent on them, as it is on 
other men, to possess personal religion; to exercise 
repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ; to love and fear, and serve their 
Creator; and to prepare for death and judgment; 
for Jehovah's language to them, is, Though ye be 



244 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



as gods, ye shall die like men, and have your por- 
tion like one of the people. In addition to the 
various personal duties, of a moral and religious 
nature, which are required of them, as men, they 
have many official duties, which are peculiar to 
themselves; duties which it is, by no means, easy 
to perform, in a manner acceptable to God, and 
approved of men. They are appointed, and they 
are required, to be ministers of God for good to 
those over whom they are placed. They are, in a 
certain sense, his representatives, and vicege- 
rents on earth; for by him they are appointed, 
and to him they are accountable, for the manner 
in which they discharge their duties. By me, says 
he, kings reign, and princes decree justice; by me, 
princes rule, and nobles, yea, all the judges of the 
earth. Promotion cometh not from the north, or 
from the south; but it is God, that setteth up one, 
and putteth down another. There is no power but 
of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. 
Since then, legislators, rulers and magistrates, 
are the ministers and vicegerents of God for good, 
they are sacredly bound to imitate him, whom they 
represent; to be such on earth, as he is in heaven; 
to take care of his rights, and see that they are 
not trampled upon, with impunity; to be a terror 
to evil-doers, and a praise and encouragement to 
such as do well. They are also bound, by obliga- 
tions, which ought ever to be regarded as sacred, 
and inviolable, to seek the welfare of those, over 
whom they are placed, to prefer it, on all occa- 
sions, to their own private interests; to live for 
others, rather than for themselves; and to consider 
themselves, their time, and their faculties, as the 
property of the state. As the influence of their 
example must be great, it is their indispensable 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



245 



duty, to take care that this influence be ever ex- 
erted in favor of truth and goodness; and to re- 
member that they are like a city set upon a hill, 
which cannot be hid. Now, consider a moment, 
my hearers, how exceedingly difficult it must be, 
for a weak, short-sighted, imperfect creature, like 
man, to perform these various duties, in a proper 
manner, and how large a share of prudence, and 
wisdom, and firmness, and goodness, is necessary 
to enable him to do it. Surely, then, they who 
are called to perform such duties, in a peculiar 
manner need our prayers. 

2. Those who are invested with authority need, 
more than other men, our prayers; because they 
are exposed, more than other men, to temptation 
and danger. While they have a more than ordi- 
nary share of duties to perform, they are urged by 
temptations, more than ordinarily numerous and 
powerful, to neglect their duty. They have, for 
instance, peculiarly strong temptations to neglect 
those personal, private duties, which God requires 
of them as men, as immortal and accountable 
creatures; and a performance of which is indis- 
pensably necessary to their salvation. They are 
exposed to the innumerable temptations and dan- 
gers, which ever attend prosperity. The world 
presents itself to them, in its most fascinating, 
alluring form; they are honored, followed, and 
flattered; they enjoy peculiar means and opportu- 
nities for gratifying their passions; they seldom 
hear the voice of admonition or reproof ; and they 
are usually surrounded by persons, who would con- 
sider every expression of religious feeling, as an 
indication of weakness. How powerfully, then, 
must they be tempted to irreligion, to pride, to 
ambition, to every form of what the Scriptures call 
21* 



246 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



worldly-mindedness ? How difficult must it be for 
them, to acquire and maintain an habitual, opera- 
tive recollection of their sinfulness, their frailty, 
their accountability to God, their dependence on 
his grace, and their need of a Saviour. How 
difficult, in the midst of such scenes and associates, 
as usually surround them; to keep death in view; 
to be in a constant state of preparation for its ap- 
proach; to practise the duties of watchfulness, self- 
denial, meditation and prayer; and to preserve, in 
lively exercise, those feelings and dispositions, 
which God requires, and which become a candi- 
date for eternity. How strongly, too, must they 
be tempted, to make the performance of their offi- 
cial duties, an excuse for neglecting those personal 
duties, which God requires of all men, in whatever 
station or circumstances they may be placed. I 
will only add, with reference to this part of our 
subject, that the Scriptures intimate with sufficient 
clearness, that those temptations are, in most in- 
stances, but too fatally successful. They inform 
us, that, not many mighty men, not many noble 
are saved. Our Saviour farther declares, that it 
is hard for a rich man, to enter into the kingdom 
of God; and it would be easy to shew, that the 
causes which render it difficult for a rich man, 
operate with equal force to make it difficult for 
men clothed with authority, to enter this kingdom. 
We may remark farther, that they have many 
powerful temptations to neglect, not only their per- 
sonal, but their official duties. They are tempted 
to indolence, and self-indulgence; tempted to pre- 
fer their own private interest, to the public good; 
tempted to pay an undue regard to the selfish 
wishes and entreaties of their real, or pretended 
friends; tempted to adopt such measures as will 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



247 



be most popular, rather than those which will be 
most beneficial to the community; tempted to for- 
get the honor and the rights of Jehovah, and suf- 
fer them to be trampled upon with impunity. It 
can scarcely be necessary to add, that persons 
who are exposed to temptations so numerous, and 
powerful, peculiarly need our prayers. 

3. This will appear still more evident, if we 
consider, in the third place, that, should those who 
are clothed with authority, yield to these tempta- 
tions, and neglect either their personal, or official 
duties, the consequences will, to them, be pecul- 
iarly dreadful. Their responsibility is greater than 
that of other men. They have greater opportuni- 
ties of doing both good and evil, than other men. 
If they do good, they will do much good. If the 
influence of their example, and their exertions, be 
thrown on the side of truth and goodness; no one 
can compute how great, or how lasting, may be 
the salutary effects which they will produce. On 
the contrary, if they do evil, they will do much evil. 
They will, like Jeroboam, make their people to 
sin. We are informed, by an inspired writer, 
that one sinner destroyeth much good. This re- 
mark is true of every sinner; but it is most em- 
phatically true, of sinners who are placed in au- 
thority. One such sinner may destroy more good, 
and prove the cause of more evil, than a whole 
generation of sinners, who are placed in a lower 
sphere. And even if they do not actually do evil, 
they may occasion great evil, and incur great guilt, 
by neglecting to do good. Says the voice of in- 
spiration, To him that knoweth to do good, and 
doeth it not, to him it is sin. In another place, 
we are taught that men partake in the guilt of all 
those sins, which they might have prevented. Leg- 



248 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



islators, rulers, and magistrates, then, are an- 
swerable to God, for all the possible good, which 
they neglect to do; and they share in the guilt of 
all the sins, which they might, but do not, prevent. 
So far as those who are invested with authority, 
neglect to prevent, to the utmost of their power, 
open impiety, irreligion, disregard of the Sabbath, 
and of divine institutions, profanation of God's 
name, intemperance, and other similar evils; they 
share in the sinfulness and guilt, of every Sabbath- 
breaker, profane swearer, and drunkard, among 
those over whom they are placed. 

How great then is the responsibility of all, who 
are invested, either with legislative, judicial or 
executive authority! How aggravated will be 
their guilt, how terrible their punishment, should 
they prove unfaithful to their country and their 
God! Surely then, they, above all other men, 
need our prayers; since they have peculiarly diffi- 
cult duties to perform, are under peculiar tempta- 
tions to neglect those duties; and, if they neglect 
them, will receive a punishment peculiarly severe. 
And remember, my hearers, that we assist to 
place them in this difficult, and dangerous situa- 
tion. Are we not then sacredly bound, to afford 
them all the assistance in our power, to obtain for 
them, all that wisdom and grace from heaven, 
which it is in the power of fervent, and persever- 
ing prayer, to draw down? Shall we place them 
as watchmen, upon a steep and slippery precipice, 
where it is exceedingly difficult to stand, and in- 
finitely dangerous to fall; and neglect the only 
means, which can render their standing secure? 
God forbid. It is unreasonable, it is ungenerous, 
it is cruel and unjust, — cruel and unjust, not only 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



249 



to them, but to ourselves, and to the community. 
This leads me to observe, 

4. We ought to pray with peculiar earnestness, 
for all who are in authority, because our own in- 
terest, and the great interests of the community 
require it. This motive, the apostle urges, in our 
text. Pray, says he, for all in authority, that we 
may lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness 
and honesty. These expressions plainly intimate, 
that, if we wish to enjoy peace and quiet; if we 
wish godliness and honesty, or, in other words, 
religion and morality, to prevail among us, we 
must pray for our rulers. That we depend on 
them, under God, for the enjoyment of these bless- 
ings, is too obvious to require proof. How much, 
for instance, do the morals, the peace and prosper- 
ity of a state, depend upon the enactment of wise 
and equitable laws. And how much integrity, 
wisdom, and prudence, how much knowledge of 
human nature, of political principles, and of the 
science of legislation, is necessary to enable men, 
to frame such laws. And from whom shall legis- 
lators obtain these qualities, if not from the Father 
of lights, from whom cometh down every good and 
perfect gift; to whom it is owing that there is a 
spirit in man, and whose inspiration gives us un- 
derstanding. Again; if the morals, peace and 
prosperity of a state, depend much on the forma- 
tion of good laws, no less do they depend, on the 
proper execution of those laws. Indeed, the best 
laws, unless strictly and impartially executed, are 
perhaps worse than none; since they only serve to 
shew the vicious and abandoned, that legal re- 
straints may be disregarded with impunity. But 
it evidently depends much on rulers and magis- 
trates, whether the laws shall be executed with 



250 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



strictness and impartiality; and perhaps it requires 
more firmness, integrity, and wisdom, to execute 
them in this manner, than it does to enact them. 
Permit me to add, that it is exceedingly impor- 
tant, that those, by whom laws are enacted and 
executed, should themselves exemplify obedience 
to the laws; for if they disregard their own 
enactments, it can scarcely be expected that others 
should obey them. 

Farther; the peace and prosperity of a nation, 
evidently depend much, upon the measures which 
its rulers adopt, in their intercourse with other na- 
tions. A mistake or error, in this respect, ap- 
parently trifling, may not only involve a nation in 
great embarrassment, but can plunge it into all the 
evils of war; and it is too much to expect of falli- 
ble, short-sighted creatures, that they should never 
fall into error, unless they are guided by him, who 
sees the end from the beginning, and who can never 
err. 

Once more; the peace and prosperity of a na- 
tion, depends entirely on its securing the favor of 
God. This, I presume, no one will deny. But 
his favor cannot be secured by any nation, unless 
its rulers are just men, ruling in his fear. We 
have already observed, that rulers share in the 
guilt of those national sins, which they might, but 
do not prevent. We may add, that nations share 
in the guilt contracted by their rulers, and in the 
punishment of their sins. Of this remark, many 
striking verifications, are recorded in the Scrip- 
tures. Indeed, if those who are placed in author- 
ity, become impious, irreligious, or immoral, they 
will soon by the force of their influence and exam- 
ple, impart much of their own character to the 
people over whom they preside; and thus render 



PRAYER FOR RULERS, 



251 



them fit objects of the divine displeasure. Per- 
mit me to add, that we cannot rationally expect to 
be favored with wise and good rulers; we cannot 
expect that God will bestow on them, those intel- 
lectual and moral endowments, which are neces- 
sary to render them ministers for good, unless we 
fervently ask of him, these blessings; for favors 
which we neglect to ask, he may refuse to bestow,, 
Nay more, he will probably punish our negligence 
and impiety, by turning our national councils into 
foolishness. We are informed that, when he 
pleases, he can take the wise in their own crafti- 
ness, and carry headlong the counsel of the fro- 
ward; that he leadeth counsellors away spoiled, 
and maketh judges to become fools; that he re- 
moveth the speech of the trusty, and taketh away 
the understanding of the aged; that he taketh 
away the heart of the chief of the people, so that 
they grope, as in the dark; and that he can, on 
the other hand, counsel our counsellors, and teach 
our senators wisdom. If then we wish to enjoy 
the protection of wise and equitable laws; if we 
wish our rulers to be endowed with wisdom, pru- 
dence, and integrity; if we wish to see our country 
prosperous and happy; to see learning and liberty, 
morality and religion, flourish; let us never forget 
to pray with earnestness and perseverance, for all 
who are invested with authority. 

There are some things, in our present situation, 
which render this exhortation peculiarly reasona- 
ble. In the first place, is there not reason to 
believe, that the duty here enjoined, is a duty 
which we, and our countrymen generally, have too 
much neglected? Have we not all been much 
more ready to complain of our rulers, than to pray 
for them? Some have complained of our national 



252 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



government, and some of our State government; 
but where is the man, who has prayed for either, 
as he ought? Have we not reason to believe, that 
if one half the breath, which has been spent in 
complaining of our rulers, had been employed in 
praying for them, we should have been much more 
prosperous and happy, as a nation, than we now 
are? If any feel convinced that we have erred in 
this respect, let me remind them, that now is the 
time to correct our error. We are now commenc- 
ing a new mode of political existence. Now then, 
is the time to correct past errors, and to establish 
right principles. 

In the second place, it is now peculiarly impor- 
tant and necessary, that we should pray for our 
legislators and rulers, because the duties which 
they are now called to perform, are peculiarly 
arduous; and because much, very much depends 
upon the manner in which these duties shall be 
performed. Not only our own temporal interests, 
but the future prosperity of the State, the welfare 
of our children, and of our children's children, will 
be seriously affected, by the official conduct of 
our present chief magistrate, counsellors, and 
legislators. To them is committed the difficult and 
responsible work of shaping the commencement of 
our course; and such as is its commencement, will 
probably be its progress, and its termination. 
Surely, then, every one, who has a tongue to pray, 
ought to employ it in earnestly supplicating the 
Father of lights, to impart to our present rulers, a 
double portion of his own Spirit; and to give them ? 
as he did Solomon, a wise and understanding 
heart, that they may know how to rule and guide 
this people. Let every one who calls himself a 
disciple of Christ, remember that one of his mas- 



PHAYER FOR RULERS. 



253 



ter's commands is, Pray, supplicate, intercede, for 
all who are in authority. View tfyem, my friends ? 
in the light of this subject, and methinks you can- 
not deny them your prayers. See them placed in 
an awfully responsible station, where they have 
numerous and difficult duties to perform, where 
they are exposed to peculiarly powerful tempta- 
tions, where they are in imminent danger of losing 
everlasting life, and incurring aggravated guilt and 
condemnation. Remember that they are men, 
and, of course, weak, fallible, and mortal. Look 
forward to the other world, and see them there 
reduced to a level with other men, and standing 
before the tribunal of God; where nothing remains 
of all the honor and influence, which they once pos- 
sessed, except the consequences of the manner in 
which they employed it. View them in this light, 
and you cannot but feel for them, and pray for 
them, that they may obtain mercy of the Lord to 
be faithful, and receive a crown of righteousness, 
in the great day. 

To conclude; how desirable is it, both to rulers 
and people, that such a disposition should exist; 
that the religion which enjoins and produces it, 
should universally prevail, among us. How easy, 
how delightful, would be the task of those who are 
placed in authority, could they be sure, when they 
rise in the morning to commence the duties of the 
day, that thousands were invoking upon them the 
best of Heaven's blessings, and asking for them 
wisdom and grace, of that Being who is never ad- 
dressed in vain. What an encouragement would 
it be to them, to unite their own morning suppli- 
cations, with those of the people over whom they 
were placed, and with what confidence might they 
engage in the duties assigned them, believing that 
22 



254 



PRAYER FOR RULERS. 



he whom they and their subjects had addressed, 
would direct all their paths. Then religion, and 
morality, and peace, and harmony would prevail, 
Rulers would love their subjects, and seek their 
good; and subjects would love the rulers, in whose 
behalf they were daily addressing the throne of 
grace; while the God whom they both worshipped, 
would command the blessing upon them, out of 
Zion; and the world would see how good and 
pleasant it is, for rulers and subjects to dwell to- 
gether in unity. It is however necessary to re- 
mark, that all these blessings can scarcely be ex- 
pected from the prayers of the people alone. They 
must be attended with the prayers of their rulers. 
All the considerations which have been urged, as 
reasons why we should pray for those who are in 
authority, may be urged with still greater force, as 
reasons why they should pray for themselves. In 
this way alone, can they obtain that wisdom and 
grace, which are indispensably necessary, to ren- 
der them faithful in this world, and happy in the 
world to come. Never perhaps, since the founda- 
tion of the world, has a state been so prosperous, 
so happy, as was the Jewish nation, while under 
the government of one, who began his reign by 
saying, Lord, thou hast set thy servant over this 
great people, and thy servant is as a little child, 
and knows not how to go out, or come in before 
them. Give thy servant, therefore, a wise and 
understanding heart, that I may know how to rule 
this thy people. God grant, that this may be the 
sincere prayer of all our rulers, and that all the 
people may say, Amen! 



SERMOJV XVI. 



liOYE TO CHRIST INDISPENSABLE. 



John xxi, 15. 

Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas 7 
lovest thou me more than thesel He saith 
unto him, Yea, Lord; thou Jcnowest that 1 love 
thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 

We have in this chapter a particular account of 
an interview between our Saviour, and some of his 
disciples after his resurrection. Of the disciples, 
present at this interview, Peter was one. The 
shameful manner in which he had denied his mas- 
ter, you, doubtless, recollect. Though he had un- 
feignedly repented of his sin, and, in consequence, 
obtained pardon, his master thought proper on this 
occasion to remind him of it again. With this 
view he addressed to him the question in our text; 
and as Peter had thrice denied that he knew him, 
he thrice repeated the question, and thrice drew 
from him the declaration, Lord thou knowest that 
I love thee. And you will observe, my hearers^ 



256 



LOVE TO CHRIST 



that ; while thus examining this backsliding disci- 
ple, he asked him no other question. He did not 
inquire what Peter believed, or whether he had 
repented; for he well knew that, where love is 
present, faith and repentance cannot be absent. 
The question before us is then, evidently, in our 
Saviour's view, a most important question. And 
were he now present, it would probably be the 
only question, or at least, the first question, which 
he would ask of each of us. If any one present 
wished for admission to his church, his table, noth- 
ing more would be indispensably necessary to his 
admission, than an ability to answer this question 
with truth in the affirmative. Nay more, this is, 
in effect, the only question which Christ will ask 
us at the judgment day, the question on our answer 
to which our destiny will depend; for the language 
of inspiration, the word by which we shall be judg- 
ed is, Grace be with all them that love the Lord 
Jesus in sincerity; but if any man love not the 
Lord Jesus, let him be accursed when the Lord 
comes; and the Judge himself has expressly de- 
clared that no man, who does not love him more 
than he loves any other object, can be his disci- 
ple. My design in the present discourse is, to 
shew why the exercise of supreme love to Christ is 
thus indispensably necessary to our salvation. 

1. The exercise of love to Christ is indispensa- 
bly necessary, because the want of it proves that 
we do not, in the smallest degree, resemble him; 
proves that we are destitute of goodness, and, of 
course, entirely sinful. It may with truth be as- 
serted, that no man acquainted with the New 
Testament, who does not love the Lord Jesus 
Christ, can be a good man, or possess the small- 
est degree of love or desire for goodness. It will 



INDISPENSABLE. 



257 



be readily allowed that Christ was perfectly good. 
Every good man will, in some degree, resemble 
Christ. Now those who resemble each other, will 
if they are acquainted love each other. Place 
good men in the same town, and as soon as they 
know each other, they will be friends. Or place 
them at a distance, and let them become acquaint- 
ed with each other's character by report, without 
any personal intercourse, and they will feel a mu- 
tual affection and wish to meet. But if all who 
resemble each other love each other, then every 
good man loves good men; much more, will every 
good man love Christ, who is goodness itself, 
goodness personified, goodness in its most attrac- 
tive form. If he loves goodness in the stream, 
much more will he love it in the fountain. He 
then who does not love Christ, does not, in any 
degree, resemble him; does not possess the smallest 
share of goodness; and, as no one can really de- 
sire what he does not love, does not even desire to 
be good. Agreeably, we find that all good beings 
in heaven, and on earth, have ever loved Christ, 
so far as they have had opportunity to become ac- 
quainted with his character. 

2. Love to Christ is indispensably necessary, 
because without it we cannot perform those duties 
which he requires of his disciples and which are 
necessary to salvation. For instance, we are re- 
quired to repent of the sin we have committed 
against him; but to do this without love is evident- 
ly impossible. Can you, my hearers, mourn, can 
you feel truly grieved, in consequence of having 
offended a person whom you do not love? You 
may, indeed, feel a selfish sorrow, if you fear that 
punishment will follow the offence; but this is not 
that godly sorrow which works repentance, and 
22* 



258 



LOVE TO CHRIST 



which Christ requires. No; when a child mourns 
that he has grieved his parents, it is because he 
loves them. When you feel grieved in conse- 
quence of having offended a friend, it is because 
he is your friend. Love then, love to Christ, is 
an essential part of those emotions which the in- 
spired writers call a broken heart and contrite 
spirit. Again, we are required to believe, to con- 
fide, to trust in Christ. But can we confide in a 
being, can we trust our all for time and eternity 
in the hands of a bein£, whom we do not love? 

. .mm 

Can a dying man commit his immortal soul with 
pleasure to the care of one whom he does not love? 
Can we even firmly believe the promises, and rest 
with implicit confidence on the assurances, of one 
whom we do not love? Evidently not. Where 
there is no love, there will be want of confidence, 
there will be suspicion. Indeed, the only reason 
why sinners find it so difficult to believe in Christ 
is, they do not love him. 

Farther; we are required to obey the commands 
of Christ, to be his servants, his subjects. Now 
obedience to many of his commands, involves the 
performance of duties which seem disagreeable, 
and submission to sacrifices, which we are natu- 
rally unwilling to make. He commands us, for 
instance, to deny ourselves, to take up the cross, to 
crucify our sinful affections and desires, to part 
with every thing cheerfully at his call, to make 
sacrifices, which he compares to cutting off a right 
hand and plucking out a right eye. Now we may 
be willing to do all this for the sake of one whom 
we supremely love; for love makes hard things 
easy, and bitter things sweet. But can any man 
feel willing to submit to all this for the sake of one 
whom he does not love? Can any man prefer the 



INDISPENSABLE, 



259 



interest of Christ to bis own, and the honor of 
Christ to his own reputation, unless he loves Christ 
more than he loves himself ? Yet this Christ ex- 
pressly requires of all who would be his disciples. 
In -addition to this, we are required to imitate 
Christ. We are told that he has set us an example 
that we should follow his steps. But can any one 
strive to imitate a person whom he does not love? 
In other words, can he sincerely endeavor to ac- 
quire a character with which he is not pleased, in 
which he sees nothing beautiful or lovely. 

Again; we are commanded to rejoice in Christ. 
Rejoice in the Lord always, says the Apostle, and 
again. I say, rejoice. But how is it possible to 
rejoice in a being for whom we feel no affection? 
We can easily rejoice in a friend; but by what 
unheard of process shall we bring ourselves to re- 
joice in one whom we do not love? Farther, we 
are commanded to remember Christ, to commemo- 
rate at his table his dying love. But how hard it 
is to retain in our memories, an object which has 
no place in our affections. How little pleasure 
can we find in coming to the table of one whom we 
regard with indifference? We may indeed, bring 
our bodies; but our hearts will be absent, and the 
whole service will be uninteresting to ourselves, 
and no better than solemn mockery in the estima- 
tion of Christ. 

Finally, we are commanded to love the friends, 
the disciples of Christ, and to love them for his 
sake. But to obey this command without love to 
Christ is evidently impossible. We cannot love 
children for the sake of their parents, unless we 
first love the parents; nor can we love the disci- 
ples of Christ for his sake, unless we love Christ 
himself. It appears, then, that to obey any of 



260 



L0"E TO CHRIST 



Christ's commands without love, is impossible. 
We may add, that, even if it were possibl .- 
him without love, our obedience would be unaccept- 
able and worthless; for he searches the heart, he 
knows what is in man, he cannot be deceived by- 
mere external services and professions, nor is it 
possible that he should be pleased with them, since 
he sees them to be insincere. 

3. The exercise of supreme love to Christ is 
indispensably necessarv, because without it we 
cannot relish the society of his disciples, or enjoy 
communion with them, or consistently unite with 
them in religious duties. The Apostle John in- 
forms those to whom he wrote, that his design in 
writing his epistle was, to bring others to the en- 
joyment of fellowship with himself and his fellow 
disciples. These things declare we unto you that 
ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our 
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son 
Jesus Christ. Now communion consists in a joint 
participation of the same views and feelings. That 
we may enjoy communion with Christians, then, it 
is necessary that our views and feelings should re- 
semble theirs. But they have exalted views of 
Christ, and feel supreme love for him. He him- 
self informs us that he has not a disciple in the 
world, who does not love him more than he loves 
any other object. How then can one who does 
not love Christ relish the society of his disciples, 
or enjoy communion with them, or unite in their 
religious services? How unpleasant must be the 
situation of such a man when surrounded by a cir- 
cle of lively Christians. Their hearts glow with 
love to an object in which he sees no beauty. 
They speak to him of the amiableness and excel- 
lence of the Saviour, but he know? not what they 



INDISPENSABLE. 



261 



mean. Yet he must endeavor to say something, 
though he has nothing to say; or else maintain a 
sullen silence, and thus excite doubts of his sincer- 
ity. In short, he must feel like a deaf man at a 
concert of music, or like a blind man in a gallery 
of pictures, surrounded by others whose senses are 
gratified and whose admiration is excited. It is 
the same, when he attempts to unite with Chris- 
tians in the performance of religious duties. They 
thank the Saviour, but he feels no gratitude. 
They praise the Saviour, but he sees nothing to 
admire; their hearts ascend to heaven on the wings 
of devotion, but his remains behind. He may in- 
deed find himself able to converse with them on 
some religious subjects, to contend eagerly for some 
truths, and to declaim fluently respecting doctrines; 
but when the beauties and glories of Immanuel are 
the theme of conversation; when any affection for 
him is expressed, he must either be silent, or say 
what his heart does not feel, what it never felt. 

Once more; supreme love to Christ is indispen- 
sably necessary, because without it we could not 
possibly be happy in heaven. This, my friends, is 
capable of strict demonstration. You will allow 
that no man can be happy who is where he does 
not wish to be. No man can wish to be in a place 
where he is separated from all that he loves. But 
the man who does not love Christ would find noth- 
ing in heaven to love; would find himself separated 
from all that he loves. All the objects which he 
ever loved, all the pursuits, employments, and soci- 
ety in which he ever found pleasure, he leaves be- 
hind him, when he leaves this world. He would, 
therefore, feel like a stranger in heaven; he would 
look back to this world as his home; he would 
wish to return here ? for where our treasure is there 



262 



LOVE TO CHRIST 



will our hearts be also; and as that wish could not 
be gratified, he would not be happy. But this is 
not all. To a man who does not love Christ, the 
society and employments of heaven would appear 
exceedingly disagreeable. We have already seen 
that such a man cannot enjoy the society or cordi- 
ally unite in the devotions of Christians on earth. 
For similar reasons, he would find it still more dif- 
ficult to enjoy the society, or join in the praises of 
heaven. All who reside there love the Saviour 
perfectly. They feel and express for him the most 
ardent and intense affection. Their happiness 
very much consists in seeing, serving, and praising 
him. Now what happiness could be found in such 
society and employments by a man who does not 
love the Lord Jesus? You well know that nothing 
can be more irksome, than to praise what we do 
not admire; to express ardent affection, when we 
feel the most perfect indifference. Yet this would 
be the situation of one in heaven, who does not 
love his Redeemer. He must, through endless 
ages, praise what he does not admire, and profess 
love which he does not feel; and what is still 
worse, he must utter these praises and professions 
to one who knows their insincerity. It would be 
sufficiently painful to flatter one whom we do not 
love, even if we could deceive him by our flat- 
teries; and induce him to believe we were sincere. 
But to flatter one whom we cannot deceive; to 
stand and utter lies to him, while we are conscious 
that he knows them to be lies, this would be mise- 
ry indeed. But it is needless to enlarge. Nothing 
can be more evident than the fact that a man who 
does not love Christ supremely would be unhappy 
in heaven. Indeed every such person, who is at 
all acquainted with his own heart, must be con- 



Ix\ T DISPENSABLE. 



263 



sctous of the fact. You doubtless recollect the un- 
happy man who was executed in this town for 
murder, about ten years since. While in his dun- 
geon, after listening to the description which in- 
spired writers give of heaven, he told me that he 
should rather remain in that dungeon through 
eternity, than go to such a heaven as he had heard 
described. Now I appeal to those of you who do 
not love the Lord Jesus, whether your feelings are 
not in some degree at least similar to his? If you 
hesitate to admit this, permit me to make the fol- 
lowing supposition. Suppose some town in our 
country should be made, as nearly as possible, to 
resemble heaven. Suppose all the inhabitants 
without exception, to be, not only pious, but emi- 
nently so. Suppose all worldly amusements, all 
political discussions, all commercial transactions, 
all secular conversation, to be banished from among 
them; while the presence of Christ should be en- 
joyed in a peculiar manner, and all the employ- 
ment should be to love and praise and serve him? 
Would you joyfully choose that town, in preference 
to all other places, for your earthly residence? 
Could you, while retaining your present character, 
while destitute of the love of Christ, cheerfully 
leave every thing behind, and live happily in such 
a place? If you reply, No; then is it much more 
evident that you could not be happy in heaven. 
If you reply, Yes; we could be happy in such a 
situation, — I ask, why then do you not, so far as 
is possible, live such a life of religion here? Why 
are not those who appear to love Christ most sin- 
cerely, and to praise him most ardently, your 
chosen companions? In a word, if you could be 
happy in heaven, why do you not seek happiness 
by living a heavenly life on earth ? 



264 



LOVE TO CHRIST 



From what has been said you may learn, my 
hearers, why the inspired writers lay so much 
stress on the exercise of love to Christ; why he 
requires it of all his disciples.' It is not for his 
own sake. It is not because our love can add 
any thing to his happiness. But it is because 
that, unless we love him, we are destitute of good- 
ness, and of all love and desire for goodness; and 
are unable to obey his commands, to enjoy com- 
munion with his people, or to be happy with him 
in heaven. The commands which require us to 
love Christ are not then mere arbitrary commands; 
but are founded in the nature of things, and obedi- 
ence to them is necessary. 

From this subject we may learn, 

1. In what respects many characters highly 
esteemed among men are deficient, essentially de- 
ficient, in the sight of GOD. I allude to persons 
whose dispositions appear to be amiable, whose 
morals are correct, whose religious opinions are 
perhaps agreeable to truth, and who pay a decent 
respect to religious institutions. Can you not 
easily conceive, my friends, that a man may pos- 
sess all these qualities and yet be destitute of love 
to Christ? Do you not know among your ac- 
quaintance many persons who have pleasing man-, 
ners, amiable dispositions, and who live moral 
lives, and yet do not appear to feel any love to 
Christ? Are there not some such persons among 
your acquaintance, whom you would be surprised 
to hear speaking of the Saviour with affectionate 
warmth, or expressing grief for having neglected 
him, or urging others to love him? Do you not 
perceive that a great alteration must take place 
even in these moral amiable persons, before they 
can sincerely adopt the language, in which Paul 



INDISPENSABLE. 



265 



and other primitive Christians express their affec- 
tion for the Saviour; and still more, before they 
can cordially unite with the redeemed in crying, 
Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory, and honor, 
and power, and blessing? If so, you surely can- 
not blame us for asserting that something more 
than morality is necessary; that a man may be 
what is called a good moral man, and yet be no 
Christian; and that a radical change of heart is 
necessary to moral men, as well as to immoral and 
profane. Nor will you complain if, adopting the 
language of the poet we exclaim, 

" Talk they of morals ? O thou bleeding Lamb ! 
Thou Maker of new morals for mankind 3 — 
The grand morality is love of thee." 

The young ruler mentioned in the gospel appears 
to have possessed all the qualities mentioned 
above; but yet he lacked one thing , essential to 
his Maker's approbation, and his own happiness. 

2. Is the question in our text the great impor- 
tant question which Christ addresses to all, and 
on our ability to answer which satisfactorily every 
thing depends? Permit me, then, to address this 
question to every one who wishes to ascertain the 
reality of his title to an admission into Christ's 
visible church, to an approach to his table, to the 
heavenly inheritance. Does any one present wish 
to know whether he is prepared for admission to 
the visible church? Christ, who keeps the door, 
says to him, Lovest thou me? If thou dost, enter 
freely. Does any one already in the church, who 
has lost his first love, or practically denied his 
master, wish to know whether he is forgiven;, 
whether, notwithstanding this conduct, Christ will 
23 



266 LOVE TO CHRIST INDISPENSABLE. 

make him welcome to his table? The only ques- 
tion to be answered is, Lovest thou me? And if 
any one wishes to know whether he is prepared 
for heaven, the question is still the same. Will 
you say, it is impossible for any one to answer this 
question decisively? It appears from our text, 
that this is a mistake. Peter could say to his 
heart-searching Lord, w r hen his penetrating eye 
was fixed full upon him, Lord, thou hiowest that I 
love thee. If Peter could thus certainly know, 
and confidently assert, that he loved Immanuel; 
all who sincerely love him may say the same, un- 
less their love is so faint that they cannot perceive 
it. And 0 how happy is the man who can truly 
say this! With what delight must he approach 
Christ's table! With what confidence can he 
meet death! with what triumphant joy may he join 
with the Apostle in exclaiming, — I know whom I 
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able 
to keep that which I have committed to him against 
that day. 



SERMOJV XVII. 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM CHRIST 
LOYES. 

Proverbs viii, 17. 
J love them that love me. 

These are the words of Christ. He who is 
styled the Word of God in the New Testament, 
calls himself the Wisdom of God in the Old. 
Under this character he is represented as stand- 
ing- in the public places of resort, and soliciting the 
attention of all who pass by: Unto you, O men, 
I call; and my voice is to the sons of men. The 
motives which he sets before them to induce a 
compliance with his call are numerous and power- 
ful. In the first place, he claims their attention 
on account of the endless duration of his existence. 
I was set up, says he, from everlasting, from the 
beo;innin£, or ever the earth was. When God 
prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set 
a compass upon the face of the deep; when he 
gave to the sea his decree, when he appointed the 



268 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



foundations of the earth; then was I by him, as 
one brought up with him; and I was daily his de- 
light rejoicing always before him. In the next 
place, he claims attention on account of the dignity 
and excellence of his character: Counsel is mine, 
and sound wisdom; I am understanding; T have 
strength. By jne kings reign and princes decree 
justice; even all the judges of the earth. In the 
third place, he urges them to listen to his instruc- 
tions because of their excellence, plainness, truth 
and utility: Hear, for I will speak of excellent 
things; my mouth shall speak truth. All the 
words of my mouth are in righteousness; they are 
all plain to him that understandeth. Receive my 
instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather 
than choice gold; for wisdom is better than rubies; 
and all the things that may be desired are not to 
be compared to it. In the fourth place, he urges 
them to love and obey his voice by promises on the 
one hand, and threatening^ on the other: Blessed 
are they that keep my ways; for riches and honor 
are with me, yea durable riches and righteousness. 
I cause those that love me to inherit substance, 
and I will fill their treasures. Blessed is the man 
that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, 
waiting at the posts of my doors; for whoso find- 
eth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the 
Lord; but he that sinneth against me, wrongeth his 
own soul; all they that hate me love death. Lastly, 
he urges them to love him on account of his long 
attachment to mankind, and his readiness to re- 
ciprocate affection: I was ever rejoicing in the 
habitable parts of the earth, and my delights were 
with the sons of men. I love them that love me, 
and they that seek me early shall find me. The 
love which Christ here professes to entertain for 



CHRIST LOVES. 



269 



those who love him, is an affection of a peculiar 
kind, entirely different from that general love which 
he feels for all his creatures; and infinitely more 
desirable. There is a sense in which he loves 
even his enemies. He loves them with a love of 
benevolence, a love which leads him to mourn over 
them when they obstinately refuse to comply with 
his invitations. Thus we are told that, while on 
earth, he was grieved with the hardness of their 
hearts; and wept over rebellious Jerusalem, when 
he contemplated the miseries that were coming 
upon her. He also loves the holy angels with a 
love of complacency and delight because they bear 
the image and obey the will of his Father. But 
the love which he entertains for his people, is an 
affection of a still more tender and peculiar kind; 
an affection, the nature and extent of which can 
be learned only from a consideration of the causes 
which produce it. To state these causes, or, in 
other words, to shew ivhy Christ loves those who 
love him, is the principal object of the present dis- 
course. 

1. The foundation of that love which Christ 
feels for all who love him, was laid in eternity. 
All who now love him, together with all who ever 
will love him to the end of time, were given to him 
by his Father before the foundation of the world; 
to be his peculiar people. God promised him in 
the covenant of redemption, that if he would make 
his soul an offering for sin, he should have a seed 
and a people to serve him; and that his people 
should be made willing in the day of his power. 
No sooner were this people given to him, than he 
loved them with a peculiar love; for he who calls 
the things that are not, as though they already 

were, can love creatures who were not, as if they 

23* 



270 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



were already in existence. Suppose, my friends, 
that when God promised a son to Abraham and 
Sarah, twenty-five years before his birth, he had 
given them a picture containing an exact likeness 
of this son. Would they not have immediately 
begun to love this picture of their future off- 
spring; and would not their affection and their de- 
sire to see and embrace him have increased with 
every succeeding year? Something like such a 
picture of his future spiritual offspring, Christ has 
possessed from the first moment in which they were 
promised him by his Father. Their names are 
all written in his book of life; and their image has 
been ever present to the eye of his mind from that 
period to the present time. Hence, long before 
they love him, nay long before they begin to exist, 
they are beloved by him with a strong and tender 
affection, or as the prophet expresses it, with an 
everlasting love. Their image has so long dwelt 
in his mind, and so long been the object of his af- 
fectionate contemplations, that they have become, 
as it were, a part of himself, and he ca*i no more 
cease to love them than he can cease to exist. 
All who are thus loved by Christ, because they are 
given him of his Father, will sooner or later re- 
turn his affection; for, says he, all that the Father 
giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh 
to me I will in no wise cast out. For these he 
prays. I pray for them, says he, I pray not for 
the world but for them whom thou hast given me. 
These he will bring in. Other sheep, he said to 
his disciples, I have who are not of this fold. 
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my 
voice. These he will keep. My sheep, says he, 
never perish. My Father who gave them to me, 
is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck 



CHRIST LOVES. 



271 



them out of my Father's hand. Thus he knows 
his sheep, loves them, prays for them, and resolves 
to bring them home to his fold, before they love or 
know him. 

2. Christ loves those who love him, because he 
has done and suffered so much for their salvation. 
You need not be told, my friends, that we natu- 
ally love and prize any object in proportion to the 
labor and expense which it costs us to obtain it. 
How highly then must Christ prize, how ineffably 
must he love his people. How dear did their sal- 
vation cost him. He purchased them with his own 
blood. To win their love and effect their redemp- 
tion, he exchanged the height of glory and felicity 
for the depths of wretchedness and degradation. 
At an infinitely less expense he could have created 
thousands of worlds. Nor is this all. From the 
birth to the death of his people, he watches over 
them with unremitting attention. Every hour and 
every moment, they need and experience his 
watchful care. He forgives their sins, alleviates 
their sorrows, sympathizes in their trials,, heals 
their backslidings, wipes away their tears, listens 
to their prayers, intercedes for them with his Fa- 
ther, enables them to persevere, and accompanies 
them through the valley of the shadow of death. 
All this care and attention naturally tends to in- 
crease his love for them. If a shepherd becomes 
affectionately attached to a flock, which he has long 
fed> guided, and protected; if a mother loves, with 
increasing tenderness, a sick child who, for a long 
period, needs her pity and care; with what an in- 
conceivable strength of affection must our great 
Shepherd love his sheep, for whom he has done 
and suffered so much, and whom he feeds, guides, 
and protects with such unceasing vigilance in their 



272 THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



journey through the wilderness of this world ? If 
his love was originally sufficiently strong to bring 
him from heaven to earth, and carry him through 
such an unparalleled series of toils and sufferings, 
what must it be now, when he has so much more 
cause to love them? If it was stronger than 
death, even before he died for them, who can con- 
ceive of its strength since he has arisen and reas- 
cended to heaven? 

For this, among other reasons, his love for them 
must be greater in degree, and of a different kind 
from that, which he entertains for the angels of 
light. He loves them, indeed, but he never died 
for them; he never sympathized with them in afflic- 
tion; he never watched over them for years with 
unceasing attention, nor led them by the hand 
through such a world as this. He loves them, 
as a parent loves a child that enjoys vigorous and 
uninterrupted health; but he loves his people, as 
parents love a child that has often been sick, and 
at the point of death. He loves them, as the 
father in the parable loved his elder son who had 
ever been with him; but he loves his people as the 
same father loved the returning prodigal, who was 
dead and alive again; who after being lost was 
found. And perhaps we are warranted, from this 
parable and those which precede it, to conclude 
that there is more joy in heaven over one of our 
fallen race who repents, than over ninety and nine 
of these blessed spirits who need no repentance. 

3. Christ loves those who love him, because 
they are united to him by strong and indissoluble 
ties. That a most intimate and lasting union sub- 
sists between Christ and his people, is evident 
from numerous passages of scripture. This union 
is sometimes compared to that which subsists be- 



CHRIST LOVES 



273 



tween the bridegroom and the bride. Fear not, 
says he to his church, for thy Maker is thy hus- 
band. Sometimes it is compared to the union 
between the branches and the vine. I, says he 
to his disciples, am the vine; ye are the branches. 
Sometimes it is shadowed forth by the connection 
between the head and the members. Christ, says 
the apostle, is the head of the church, and we are 
members of his body, his flesh, and his bones. In 
other places it is compared to the union between 
the soul and the body. Ye, says St. Paul to be- 
lievers, are the body of Christ. And again, he 
that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Lastly, 
this mysterious union is described in still stronger 
terms by our Saviour as resembling that which 
subsists between himself and his Father. He 
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, says 
he, dwelleth in me and I in him. To the same 
purpose he prays, that all his disciples may be one; 
as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they 
also may be one in us; I in them, and thou in me, 
that they may be made perfect in one, that the 
world may know that thou hast loved them, as 
thou hast loved me. The expressions here em- 
ployed to describe this union are the strongest 
which language can afford, and sufficiently shew 
that it must be a union of the strongest and most 
intimate kind. The bond of this union, on our 
part, is faith; but the union itself is formed by the 
appointment of God, who has constituted Christ 
and his people one great body, and by the Spirit 
of Christ which dwells in the hearts of all believ- 
ers. As the numerous branches of the vine are 
one with the root, because the same vital princi- 
ple is common to both; or as the different members 
of our bodies are one because they are actuated 



274 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



by the same soul, so Christ and his people are 
one, because the same infinite Spirit dwells in them 
all and binds them together. Hence the afflictions 
of the church are called the afflictions of Christ; 
and hence we are told, that in all their afflictions 
he is afflicted, and that whoever touches them 
touches the apple of his eye. How strong then 
must be the love of Christ for his people! They 
are not only his brethren, his sisters, his bride, 
but his members, his body; and he consequently 
loves them as we love our members, as our souls 
love our bodies. Nothing can be stronger than 
the language of St. Paul on this subject. No 
man, says he, ever hated his own flesh, but loveth 
and cherisheth it, even as the Lord does the 
church; plainly implying that we may as soon 
cease to love and cherish our bodies, as Christ to 
love and provide for his people. 

4. Christ loves those who love him, because 
they possess his spirit and bear his image; in one 
word, because they are holy. Similarity of char- 
acter always tends to produce affection, and hence 
every being in the universe loves his own image 
whenever he discovers it. Even children become 
more dear to their parents, when they resemble 
them; and our nearest relations are beloved with 
increased affection, whose dispositions and opinions 
and pursuits correspond with our own. Especially 
does Christ love his own image in his creitures, 
because it essentially consists in holiness, which is 
of all things most pleasing both to his Father and 
himself. But all who love Christ bear his image. 
He has no children or friends who do not resemble 
him; for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
he is none of his. If any man be in Christ he is 
a new creature, created anew after his image in 



CHRIST LOVES. 



275 



knowledge, righteousness and true holiness. And 
though the image of Christ in his people be at first 
imperfect, yet the love which they entertain for his 
person and character constantly tends to increase 
the resemblance, since we naturally imitate those 
whom we highly love and revere. By contempla- 
ting his glory, as displayed in the gospel, they are 
gradually changed into the same image from glory 
to glory. They love what he loves; they hate 
what he hates; they pursue the same objects that 
he pursues. They are not of the world, even as 
he is not of the world. They learn of him to be 
meek and lowly in heart, and to cultivate that 
charity which seeketh not her own. Like him 
their principal concern is to glorify God and finish 
the work he has assigned them. Like him they 
pity, forgive, and pray for their enemies; and like 
him they are tenderly solicitous for the salvation 
of sinners. In a word, Christ, as the apostle ex- 
presses it, is formed in them. And as those who 
love Christ will obey his commands, and as he 
commands his disciples to be perfect even as their 
F ather in heaven is perfect, so they are constantly 
aiming at a perfect conformity with this perfect 
pattern. 

That this conformity to his image and obedience 
to his commands, are pleasing to Christ and excite 
his affection, is evident from his own language. 
I have not called you servants, says he, to his 
disciples; but I have called you friends; and then 
are ye my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command 
you. The fruits of holiness thus produced by his 
people on earth, imperfect as they are, are on some 
accounts more pleasing to him even than those 
produced by the angels in heaven. Holiness in 
heaven is like flowers in spring or like fruit in 



276 



THE GHARACTERS WHOM 



autumn when they are expected; but holiness in a 
world so depraved as this is like flowers and fruit 
in the depth of winter; or like the blossoms and 
almonds of Aaron's rod, which proceed from a 
dead and sapless branch. When the delicious 
fruits of southern climes can be made by the gard- 
ener's skill to flourish in our northern regions, they 
are far more admired and prized, than while grow- 
ing in rich abundance in their native soil. So 
when holiness, whose native land is heaven, is 
found in the comparatively frozen and barren soil 
of this world, which lieth in wickedness, it is view- 
ed by celestial beings with peculiar pleasure and 
agreeable surprise. 

Lastly; Christ loves those who love him, be- 
cause they rejoice in and return his affection. It 
is the natural tendency of love to produce and in- 
crease love. Even those whom we have long lov- 
ed on account either of their relation to us, or of 
their amiable qualities, become incomparably more 
dear to us when they begin to prize our love and 
return it. Hence it is easy to conceive that Christ 
loves his people because of their love to him. And 
if he so loved them before they existed, and even 
while they were his enemies, as to lay down his 
life for their redemption, how inexpressibly dear to 
him must they be, after they become his friends! 
To this, the apostle alludes when he says, if when 
we were enemies we were reconciled to God by 
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, 
we shall be saved by his life. It is indeed utterly 
impossible to conceive the immeasurable extent of 
his love to those who are thus reconciled to him. 
Well might the apostle say, it passes knowledge. 
He feels none of those jealous fears respecting the 
sincerity of his friends, which men are prone to 



CHRIST LOVES. 



277 



entertain, and which often interrupt their friend- 
ship for each other. No; he knows that his peo- 
ple love him, and he knows how much they love 
him. He knows that he is precious to their souls, 
more precious than the air they breathe, than the 
light of heaven. He knows that they love him 
better than father or mother, husband or wife, 
brother or sister, son or daughter, yea far better 
than their own lives; and that for his sake they 
are ready to renounce and forsake them all. He 
knows that his love sweetly constrains them to live 
to his service, and that they rejoice when they are 
counted worthy to suffer pain and shame for his 
name. He knows that they look upon him as 
their Redeemer, their Friend, their Shepherd, 
their Physician, their Advocate, their Wisdom, 
their Strength, their Life, and their All; that the 
enjoyment of his presence and favor constitutes all 
their felicity; that they consider no earthly afflic- 
tion comparable to his absence or displeasure, and 
that the weakness of their love to him is their con- 
stant grief and shame. He knows that they pre- 
fer him to themselves, that they wish for a heav- 
enly crown only that they may throw it down at 
his feet; and that the principal reason why they 
desire heaven is, that they may see and serve and 
praise him, and ascribe all the glory of their sal- 
vation to him. And how then can he refrain from 
loving those who thus love him; whom he has him- 
self taught to love him. With what unutterable 
emotion of mingled piety, sympathy, and love must 
he look down on those who are thus attached to 
him in the midst of a rebellious world, and who for 
his sake are denying themselves taking up the 
cross and striving to follow him in defiance of all 
the inward and outward opposition which they are 
24 



278 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



called to encounter? Hear what he says to such: 
I know thy works. I have set before thee an 
open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast 
a little strength, and hast kept ray word, and hast 
not denied ray name. Because thou hast kept 
the word of my patience, I also will keep thee 
in the hour of temptation which shall come on 
all the earth, and I will cause thine adversaries to 
come and worship before thy feet, and to know 
that I have loved thee. 

Thus have I attempted to state the principal 
reasons why Christ loves those who love him. He 
loves them because they are given him by his Fa- 
ther; because he has done and suffered much for 
their salvation; because they are united to him in 
the most intimate and indissoluble manner; because 
they possess his spirit and bear his image; and 
because they rejoice in and return his affection. 
Either of these causes alone would induce him to 
love them with a strength of affection, of which 
we can form no conception. What then must be 
the degree of love produced by all these causes 
united? He only can tell, who knows the Son 
even as the Son knows him. The love of Christ 
passeth knowledge. Its heights and depths, its 
length and breadth, are unsearchable by finite 
minds. 



IMPROVEMENT. 

L This subject may enable every one to an- 
swer the important question, does Christ love me? 
This is a question which all true Christians will 
frequently, and anxiously ask, and which many of 
them feel unable to answer in a satisfactory man- 



CHRIST LOVES. 



279 



ner. When they consider the spotless purity o 
Christ, and his hatred of sin, and their own ex- 
ceeding sinfulness and unworthiness, they are ready 
to exclaim, how is it possible that he should love 
us? O that he were on earth, that we might ask 
him this question, or that some kind angel would 
favor us with a glimpse of his book of life, or assure 
us that we are the objects of his love. But these 
wishes are needless. Say not in your hearts, 
Who shall ascend up into heaven, to ask whether 
Christ loves us; for the answer to this question is 
near you even in your hearts. If youhve Christ, 
he loves you. If you are his friends, he is most 
certainly yours. Were he now on earth, and 
should you ask, Lord, canst thou condescend to 
love us? he would answer your question by another, 
and say as he did to Peter, Lovest thou me more 
than these worldly objects around" you ? Look into 
your hearts then, my friends, for an answer to this 
question. Can not some of you reply, Lord, thou 
knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. 
Thou knowest that, notwithstanding our coldness, 
our ingratitude, and numberless imperfections, 
the desire of our souls is still to thee, and to the 
remembrance of thy name? If you dare not say 
this, can you not venture to say, we know that 
Christ is just such a Saviour as we need; that the 
way of salvation by him is exactly suited to our 
circumstances; we know that his yoke is easy, and 
his burden light; and that it appears to us above 
all things desirable to obey his commands, and 
imitate his example; we know that we love all 
who love him and bear his image; and that it grat- 
ifies us to hear him praised and extolled; we know 4 
that his presence alone renders us happy, and that 
in his absence nothing affords us consolation? My 



280 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



friends, if you can truly say this, you need not wish 
for Christ to come and assure you of his love. He 
has already done it; he has done it in the words 
of our text; and you may feel more assured of it 
than if you had heard it asserted by a voice from 
heaven. Unworthy as you are, he loves you in- 
finitely more than you can conceive; and will con- 
tinue to love you while eternity shall last. Away, 
then, with your doubts and anxieties. Dismiss 
every fearful anxious thought; listen not to the 
suggestions of unbelief, but believe the words of 
Christ, and open your hearts to admit the consol- 
ing enrapturing assurances of his love. Come to 
his table, as to the table of a friend, who will give 
you a cordial welcome, and not as to the table of 
a master of whom you are servilely afraid? Why 
should you hesitate or fear to do this? Do you 
not invariably find that, when you feel the fullest 
assurance of his love, you are most engaged in his 
service; and that, on the contrary, when you doubt 
it, you hands are weakened, and your hearts dis- 
couraged! If this be the case, it is at once your 
duty, your interest, and your happiness to believe, 
to be certain, that you love Christ, and that he 
loves you; and in proportion as you believe this, 
will be your progress in the Christian race. This 
St. Paul well knew, and therefore, when he wished 
Christians to be filled with the fulness of God, he 
prayed that they might know the love of Christ. 
If any of you still doubt, and wish for more satis- 
factory evidence, the preceding observations may 
teach you how to obtain it. In proportion as your 
love to Christ increases, so will your evidence of 
his love to you increase. All your doubts arise 
from the weakness and inconstancy of your love. 
Labor and pray, therefore, that your knowledge 



CHRIST LOVES. 



281 



of Christ may be increased, and his love shed 
abroad in your hearts. Thus will you soon be en- 
abled to say with Peter, Lord, thou knowest that 
I love thee. 

2. If Christ loves those who love him, then he 
will love those most who are most ready to return 
his affection, and to do all things, to suffer all 
things, and to renounce all things for his sake. My 
Christian friends, do you wish for a large share of 
Christ's love; for a distinguished place in his af- 
fections? Then instead of shrinking from the 
cross, press it to your hearts, and like the first 
disciples rejoice when you are counted worthy to 
suffer for him. Afflictions, reproaches, and perse- 
cutions, are the honors and preferments of Christ's 
earthly kingdom; for if we suffer with him, we 
shall also reign with him; and the greater our suf- 
ferings, the brighter will be our crown, the more 
exalted our thrones. Every one who forsakes fa- 
ther or mother, wife or children, houses or lands, 
for Christ's sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and 
in the world to come, everlasting life. Be not con- 
tent then with giving Christ few and small proofs 
of your affections; but labor to love him as he has 
loved you, and be as willing to suffer for him, as 
he was to suffer for you. Should you love him 
more than all the saints and angels, his love would 
still infinitely surpass yours. Be persuaded then 
to give him all your hearts. Are you not some- 
times ready to wish that you had a thousand hearts 
to give him, a thousand tongues to speak his 
praise, a thousand hands to labor in his service? 
And will you then withhold any part of what you 
already possess? No; give him all, for all is in- 
finitely less than he deserves; and the more you 
give him, the more will you receive. 
24* 



282 



THE CHARACTERS WHOM 



3. How happy are they who love. It has been 
often and justly observed, that to love, and to be 
beloved by a deserving earthly friend, affords the 
greatest happiness which the world can give. 
What happiness then must they enjoy, who love 
and are beloved by the infinite fountain of love, — 
God's eternal Son, the brightness of his glory, the 
possessor of all power in heaven and earth; source 
of every thing amiable and excellent in the uni- 
verse. What pure, ineffable, exalted delight must 
they find in communion with such a friend; and 
what indescribable benefits must they receive from 
his love! What can created minds conceive of, 
what can the heart form a wish for, beyond the 
friendship of such a being? Nay, what creature 
could have dared to raise his wishes so high, had 
not God himself encouraged us to do it? O, it is 
too, too much; not too much indeed for God to 
give, but far too much for man to deserve. But 
in vain do we attempt to give you adequate ideas 
of the happiness resulting from the love of Christ. 
It is one of those things, which it is impossible for 
man to utter; and the joy which it produces is a 
joy unspeakable. If any would know it, they must 
learn it, not from language, but from their own ex- 
perience, for language sinks under the weight of a 
subject, which it was never intended to describe. 
We can only say that, to love and be beloved by 
Christ, is the very essence of heaven. 

4. The truths we have been considering afford 
most powerful motives to induce sinners to love 
Christ. Benevolent, pitiful, and compassionate 
as he is; he cannot, at present, my impenitent 
hearers, but view your characters with abhorrence 
and disgust. Even now he looks round about upon 
you with anger, being grieved for the hardness of 



CHRIST LOVES. 



283 



your hearts. He knows that you do not love him. 
He sees that you do not comply with his invita- 
tions, or obey his commands. He seldom if ever 
hears a prayer from your lips. He sees that you 
refuse to comply with his dying request, that you 
are even now about to turn away from his table, 
where his people commemorate his dying love. 
How then can he love you. How can he but be 
displeased and grieved, to see himself and the 
blessings he offers thus slighted and despised. 
Still, however, he waits to be gracious. He once 
more sends you terms of reconciliation. And what 
are the terms? He requires your love. Be his 
friends, and he will be yours. And can you hesi- 
tate respecting a compliance? Shall infinite love- 
liness offer to love perfect deformity, and shall 
perfect deformity refuse to love infinite loveliness? 
My friends, think again of his offers. Are they 
reasonable? Are they not more than reasonable? 
Even your fellow worms will not love you unless 
you return their love. And can you then expect, 
that your offended Creator and Redeemer, the 
King of kings and Lord of lords, will love you on 
easier terms; will love you while you persist in 
grieving, neglecting and provoking him? My 
friends, you ought not to expect this. You cannot 
expect it. Will you not then comply with his 
terms? Look at him again. You will find his 
portrait, his likeness, the very picture of his heart 
in the gospel. Study it attentively. See what 
majesty and meekness, what dignity and tender- 
ness; what glory and condescension, what grace 
and sweetness, there is in every feature. See in- 
finite power, unsearchable knowledge, unerring wis- 
dom, boundless goodness, — see all the fulness of 
the Godhead, veiled in flesh and coming down from 



284 CHARACTERS WHOM CHRIST LOVES. 

heaven to win your affections. This is he who 
says, I love them that love me. My friends, how 
can you forbear to love such a being. Methinks 
you could not but love him though hell should be 
the consequence. How then can you refuse, when 
heaven will be the reward. 



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